Another Chance
by kibaxkaori
Summary: It was hard to tell whether Fate was finally dealing Naruto a good hand or sending him further into hell. Rated M for safety.
1. A Mistake

**1**

The feel of hot flesh surrounding and in between his fingers didn't quite reach him, the pain in his chest not allowing him to think further than the cause for his sorrow. Tears ran down his cheeks. The smirking man standing in his sightline blurred as his mind provided to him the image of Sasuke, lying on the ground, bleeding, behind him.

Naruto pulled his hand free from Madara's chest with a sickly squelching sound and let the man fall to the ground, dead before he hit it. He didn't know why the man took his smirk to the grave with him, nor did he care. He closed his eyes and turned around. He hid in the darkness behind his eyelids, trying to lie to himself, to tell himself that his best friend, his only rival, wasn't dead, wasn't laying there, not an arms-length away from him. He tried to tell himself that Sasuke was still alive. But when he opened his eyes again, Sasuke still lay there, right in front of him.

He dropped to his knees and moved his hand, which shook violently, to his friend's chest, to just below the blood-crusted hole over the raven's heart. The man lay in a wide, dark puddle of blood, and as Naruto knelt, the blood soaked through his pants and made him shiver. He was glad now that Sakura and Kakashi hadn't come with them, and that they wouldn't have to see this.

The pale raven was paler than he could ever have been in life. He was still, oh so heart-achingly still, but he was still warm. The life warmth that had accompanied Sasuke was only just beginning to seep away and one could have mistaken him for being alive devoid of the fact that he was not. It was terribly easy to tell when someone had stopped breathing. Stopped walking. Stopped talking.

Naruto had always known that he'd die when Sasuke did, and he'd been right. His goal had been to rescue Sasuke for so long that his mind was fighting against what he saw, trying to reject the reality he knew was true. In the midst of this, his mind was breaking. He somewhat resembled a mirror, cracking slowly from an unknown pressure, breaking his reflection apart slowly and painfully. His tears flowed freely, trying their best to pull his pain along with them, only failing miserably.

Slowly, through the fog and haze that was beginning to cloud his thoughts, an idea came to his mind, one that promised him a possible relief from the pain that was breaking his mind and heart into pieces. He would seal away his pain, the cause of it: the feelings that were produced in relation to Sasuke. Naruto wouldn't forget him, only the pain it gave him to remember. Sasuke had been the first peer to recognize him truly, to become his rival. He hadn't looked at him like a monster, hadn't shunned him for no reason. No. He couldn't forget Sasuke.

He pushed his pain into the back of his mind, knowing that if this seal failed, the memories and feelings that had been washing over him in a torrent would drown him, the feelings blocked up behind the temporary wall he'd built rushing over him all at one time. But he would never feel them again if it did work and, however harsh it may sound to any outsider, Naruto himself knew that he wouldn't be able to keep on living if it didn't.

He pushed himself numbly to his feet and pulled off his orange and black jacket to reveal a short-sleeved black shirt which followed the jacket to land in a pile on the ground. The only thing left on his bare chest was the crystal necklace from Tsunade. Taking an inkwell and brush from one of the pouches at his waist, he dipped the brush into the ink and scrawled the symbols for the seal smoothly along his left arm, starting from his wrist. He took the brush into his other hand, having painted his left arm with the script all the way up past his shoulder and wrote a mirror image of it on his right arm.

Pulling out a mirror, he wrote in similar symbols up the sides of his neck and continued it to his temples, at which point it split, going to his forehead and running along his cheekbones and down to the corners of his mouth, making his face look masked. The jutsu was one of his own making, one he'd discovered by accident, though he'd never thought he'd have a use for it.

He knelt next to Sasuke once again. After dipping his fingers into the crimson pool below the man, he pressed the same fingers to his chest, leaving four bloody finger prints resting over his heart.

Turning his attention back to the raven himself, he placed his hand against the man's cheek, running his thumb softly along Sasuke's jaw line. He sat back on his heels and looked down at him sadly, wistfully. A small smile formed on his lips, but it was empty. His hands moved to form a seal and felt the Kyuubi shift inside him as he gathered his chakra. She accepted his wishes. She would lend him all the chakra he needed.

A final, single tear, that somehow missed the seal's markings, dropped and landed on Sasuke's hand.

"I'm sorry." the whisper came as Naruto pushed his chakra up through his skin, activating the seal and surrounding him in a reddish aura. Naruto closed his eyes and waited for his seal to push unconsciousness onto him as he knew it would. He sighed as the darkness surrounded him and his body slumped forward, landing on Sasuke's shoulder. One could have mistaken them for being asleep devoid of the fact that they were not.


	2. Another Chance

**2**

There was something dripping down onto his cheek, warm and wet. He forcibly pulled himself to complete consciousness and, as he opened his eyes, he was shocked to see his old teacher on his hands and knees above him. Iruka's face was contorted with pain. Naruto was shocked into stillness.

Naruto had seen this exact image before. He'd burned it into his memory. If he moved his head to the side just a little he could see…there. Mizuki, the bastard. The silver-headed sensei was standing not very far away, smirking. And there was that damn shuriken, protruding from Iruka's back. Was this a nightmare? Did his jutsu make him relive his memories in order to destroy them? He had never used it before, had had no reason to, so he couldn't be sure.

But…no. This memory had nothing to do with Sasuke. Just a nightmare, then. A little less alarmed, Naruto wondered for a moment. If he knew he was dreaming, could he live it out? Could he change how everything had happened? Just to see what could have been? Only until he woke up to reality again?

His thoughts were interrupted as the brunette teacher spoke.

"…I…With my parents gone…There was no one to praise or respect me…I was so lonely…I became the class clown…Anything to attract attention. I just wanted someone to notice how good I was…To be proud of me. Being the class clown…was still better than being a nobody. It…hurt so much."

Tears mixed with the blood on his cheek; both his own and Iruka's. It was the same. Down to the words, it was exactly the same as the memory that had changed his life.

"I know that, Naruto. I was so hard on you, yelling, scolding…It must have hurt. Forgive me. If I'd been a better teacher…a better self…maybe neither of us would have come to this." His sensei broke off with a soft sob. He seemed to wait for Naruto's answer. Naruto's heart broke again.

He gently climbed out from beneath Iruka's shaking body. For a moment, Naruto could see from the trepidation in Iruka's eyes that he expected Naruto to run, like he had done the first time. Instead, stepped up beside his teacher and gave a glare to Mizuki. The man, not knowing what he had seen in Naruto's eyes, shivered. To his credit, however, he did not move.

"Don't move, Sensei." Naruto gripped Mizuki's giant shuriken firmly and gave a sharp tug. He heard a low whimper from Iruka for a moment, but nothing else as the heavy weapon came free. The brunette teacher collapsed the moment the blade left his back. Pushing back the urge to help him up, adrenaline surged through his veins. Naruto turned once again to look at Mizuki and, expertly spinning the shuriken, threw it at him. He had the satisfaction of seeing shock and terror on the traitor's face as the blades passed not an inch from his face, embedding itself in the tree behind him up to the base of one of its blades and nearly penetrating through to the other side. He'd run too much chakra through it, it seemed, by force of habit.

Naruto didn't even bother to see what Mizuki would do in retaliation, instead opting to kneel down beside his sensei, who was paling from blood loss. Naruto put his hand on Iruka's back, inciting a shiver of discomfort, and ran his chakra through the wound using a simple healing jutsu to close it along with the other numerous kunai wounds distributed along his body. That was when he started to feel strange. He felt a little light-headed, a symptom of what he suspected to be chakra loss.

_Why? _It was a simple jutsu, simpler than most he knew, at least. Not to mention, he shouldn't feel anything of the like in a dream. Then he saw his hand. He stared at it in confusion, his mind suddenly buffeted with thoughts that led to an impossible conclusion.

The hand was smaller than his own; a child's hand.

Then the scars along his right arm, peeking from beneath his orange jacket.

They were recent.

Then he noticed the pain.

He'd cut himself on the shuriken.

There was no pain in dreams.

It wasn't a dream.

He shivered. _How?_

The jutsu. _I messed up._

He wrapped his arms around himself. He felt a hand on his shoulder. Iruka-sensei. He looked worried. He was on his knees, Naruto was standing. Their eyes were on the same level.

Somehow. Impossibly. He was a child again.

His mind screamed out the unlikelihood of this happening and… his heart cried out for the chance that this truly was reality. The two parts of him battled and baffled him, leaving him dazed and breathless, unable to register anything clearly. But another part of him, the feral part that had lived with him since he'd been a child, sensed danger.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mizuki. His other shuriken was in his hand. He had murder in his eyes. Iruka was in between Naruto and the traitor. Time moved slowly.

He pushed Iruka to the side, stealing a kunai from his teacher's weapons pouch to use with the same movement, as he remembered that academy students weren't allowed to carry weapons and his own pouch would hold nothing. Kunai in hand, Naruto formed the seal for the Kagebunshin jutsu. He did not summon them into plain sight but into the trees above Mizuki, nor did he shout out what technique he was using like the idiot he had been when he was a child, which was apparently a time in his life that Fate was having him relive. He darted forward, not as fast as he would have liked, and awkwardly as he realized just how slow he'd been as a child, but fast enough for him to surprise Mizuki and make him hesitate in throwing his shuriken. Using that gap in the traitor's defenses, Naruto dodged under the former sensei's reach and used the kunai to precisely cut into the man's right leg's tendon.

The man screamed in agony and began to collapse, dropping his shuriken, but Naruto's two Kagebunshin appeared easily behind him, one grabbing Mizuki around his neck in such a way that the only thing keeping him standing on his uninjured leg was the fear of having his neck snapped. The other Kagebunshin held his replicated kunai against the back of the man's head, whereas the original held his kunai not inches away from the man's right eye, letting him stare down the point of it. Naruto spoke words easily reminiscent of the ones he had first spoken, although a bit more harshly:

"If you ever harm Iruka-sensei again, do not think I won't kill you."

With that said, the two kagebunshin disappeared in twin 'poofs' and left Mizuki in a huddled mess on the ground, shivering and crying from the recognition that his life had been _that_ close to being ended. Naruto turned as if without a care in the world and went back to his sensei's side. The man was staring, stupefied, at Naruto. He was leaning against one of the bigger trees in the clearing. Naruto recognized it as the same one that Iruka had given him his own hitai-ate under. Though he doubted that would happen now, since there were a lot of questions his sensei would want answered. But then again, Iruka had always managed to surprise him.

Iruka smiled. "Naruto, come here. I've got a present for you."

The blond's eyes widened. "You don't-"

His sensei shook his head. "I'll ask questions later. Come here."

Naruto sat in front of his sensei cross-legged without complaint. "Close your eyes, Naruto." He did as he was told. He felt his sensei reach around his head, felt the cloth of his sensei's headband tied into a steadfast knot. Without opening his eyes, Naruto reached up to feel the metal plate that now rested on his forehead. "You can open your eyes now, Naruto." He did so, taking his hand down at the same time. He stared at Iruka, who was smiling at him.

"Thank you. You don't know how much this means to me." Naruto was still overwhelmed by his situation. What was happening to him?

Iruka adopted a puzzled expression at the uncharacteristically calm reply to his action. "Naruto? Are you all right?"

Naruto's face grew dark. He opened his mouth and then shut it then he opened it again, as if he couldn't figure out how to voice what he needed to say.

"I-…You-…We need to talk to the Hoka-" Naruto's eyes widened, reflecting the rising sun in front of him. "Kami! Fuck! The _Hokage_!" Naruto jumped up suddenly, surprising his teacher who jumped up with him, albeit a bit more stiffly than he normally would have.

"Naruto! What is it?" Iruka sensei asked, alarmed. He glanced over at Mizuki who'd long since passed out. Naruto flashed him the brightest grin he'd seen in ages. It filled his eyes.

"He's alive! The old man's alive!"

"Well, yeah, Naruto. As far as I know, he's been alive for quite some time-Naruto!" Iruka shouted. Naruto ran. It was just now dawn and any ninja below chuunin level and the villagers were just now beginning to rise. Everyone else had been roused by Naruto's midnight romp. He sensed a few of them following him; he could even feel Kakashi-sensei. The silver-haired sensei was hopping from roof to roof not far behind him. Naruto had a sudden thought and stopped just as quickly. He smiled. What would happen if he called the man by the title 'Sensei', he wondered? He'd probably have Naruto thrown into an asylum.

"Hatake-san!" He called, waiting for the man to show himself. Kakashi had stilled but did not move from his hiding place on the far side of the roof. "Come on. I know you're there. Ah, well. I just left Iruka-sensei and that bastard Mizuki in a clearing a little east of the northernmost training grounds. Iruka-sensei's uninjured but you might want to check him out anyway; I'm not sure if my jutsu was enough to completely heal the injuries. Mizuki has a cut tendon and is probably mentally unstable right now, so you should be careful around him. I'm just taking this scroll back to old man Hokage." He gestured at the scroll on his back.

Kakashi stepped out from the shadows and gave him a glance-over, along with a wary nod. Naruto grinned at him cheekily, and, having finally, successfully confused the man, he jumped to the next roof on his way to the hokage's office, where the old man was sure to be. He felt Kakashi's chakra head towards the area he'd directed.

_At least one of them trusts me, if only a little. Or maybe he's just worried about Iruka-sensei. There are enough Jounin following me that I'm not too big of a worry anyway, I guess._ The prankster part of him wanted to teach the whole of Konoha just how much of a ruckus he could cause if he wanted. He ignored the urge.

He reached the Hokage tower's roof shortly and, grabbing the edge of it, swung in through the already open window, as if it had been prepared just for him, into the hokage's office. He looked around at the semi-lit room seeing everything as it had been before Tsunade had been named hokage. He'd almost forgotten how it had looked. The desk sat in the middle of the room facing a closed door, away from the window. There were two comfortable-looking beige cloth couches on either side of the room, pushed against the wall, and there were two chairs of the same color and fabric sitting on the opposite side of the desk as the large burgundy, leather chair where the hokage sat. But there were no papers scattered across the room, nor was there the underlying smell of booze. The chair was facing away from him, towards the door, but there was someone sitting in it, and that someone knew Naruto was in the room. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been fit to be the Hokage.

"Old man." He said in a soft voice, trying to keep it smooth.

"I told you! Do not call me that, Gaki!" the hokage spun around in his chair. But if he'd been expecting Naruto to just stand there, glaring at him for the nickname 'gaki' and ready to start a fight, he was wrong. Very wrong.

Naruto stood in front of him, yes, but he wasn't trying to start a fight. A few tears rolled down his cheeks even as he smiled. He dashed forward so quickly, Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't know what was coming until he felt the boy's body connect with his and he had a head full of blond hair buried in his neck. He glanced at the two Anbu in the corners of the room, who had come behind Naruto with kunai in their hands in the second he'd rushed at the Hokage, and motioned them off. They left the room, taking the scroll Naruto had dropped on the floor with them.

"You didn't have to send them off." Naruto stepped away from him and wiped his eyes in one movement. He looked at Sarutobi with happy eyes. The man gave him a pseudo-innocent 'What are you talking about?' look, but Naruto shook his head with a small smile. The Hokage adopted a confused look.

"I'll explain. We just need to wait for Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei to get here-"

"Already done, and since when am I your sensei?" an irritated voice sounded behind him. Kakashi leant against the frame of the window he himself had come in only moments ago. Iruka was just climbing into the window, he looked better and was walking much less stiffly than he would have been had he been injured still. Naruto breathed an inaudible sigh of relief. Sarutobi seemed unperturbed to see all his visitors use his office window like a front door.

"That's a surprisingly difficult question to answer. First, where'd you take Mizuki?"

"That's not something you need to know." Kakashi's visible eye gleamed. He probably didn't like being questioned by a child. Naruto sighed. He wasn't a child. But they didn't know that.

"Fine, be that way, but unless you want a major prison breakout sometime in the future, which he'll probably manage even with a cut tendon, keep him away from contact with the brothers Fuujin and Raijin. And, before you ask, I will explain what I know of the situation. If that's okay with you, Gramps." Naruto looked at the old man who gave a nod.

"Sit down, then. It's a long story." Naruto walked to the chair to the right of the desk and practically fell into it. He was tired, but he needed to explain. Iruka sat next to him in the other chair, but Kakashi remained standing behind Sarutobi, who turned his chair around to face his desk once again.

Naruto was thinking over his words for a moment before speaking, when something occurred to him. "Well, actually, it's probably not that long a story. I have a feeling that if I tried to tell you everything, it would mess something up bad. Just suffice to say that, in the time I'm coming from, you're dead, Old Man." The Hokage's eyes widened considerably.

Kakashi looked skeptical. "You mean to say that you're from a different time period."

The fact that this was coming from a child who was well-known, if not well-liked, among all the villagers and ninja, made what Naruto was saying sound like total bull. He knew it, but he'd have to convince them he was telling the truth. Ha! He doubted they'd ever believe him totally, even if they bought his story for the moment.

Naruto nodded. "From this time period's future, I'm guessing. I'm not quite sure on the exact details, but, one moment I was there, and now I'm here. And you can't bring the dead back to life. Nor can this be a Genjutsu; I would know if it was. No one can reenact my past as perfectly as it happened in the forest with Iruka and Mizuki. It was the same. Down to the exact words that were used. Only Madara, Itachi, or Sasuke Uchiha could manage it, and the first two were both dead in my time last I checked. I killed Madara myself. Sasuke wouldn't have used something like this on me and he killed Itachi." He ignored the fact that Sasuke had been dead, too.

The three of them were staring at him.

"How do you know this?" Iruka asked slowly.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "No offense Sensei, but didn't I just tell you? The only possible thing that could have happened is that I messed up my sealing jutsu. I left out something, I don't know what but-"

_**Maybe it was the blood?**_ The sudden voice of the Kyuubi popped into his head, making him flinch. Then he thought over the words.

"Of course!" The three other inhabitants of the room jumped at the outburst. Naruto palmed his forehead. The three of them looked at him strangely, but he ignored them.

_I'm such an idiot. The blood could have caused the intentions of the seal to shift depending on what Sasuke thought when he…well... I can't believe I forgot. Why didn't you stop me then?_

_**I was just as absorbed in Sasuke's death as you were. If you'll remember, I'm in your mind. I feel your feelings. But, truly Kit, is this really a bad thing?**_

_I don't know. I need time to think._

"Sorry, I was thinking to myself." Naruto said, trying to ease the suspicions of the Hokage, Iruka, and Kakashi as he cut off his conversation with Kyuu. He suddenly noticed Kakashi looking him over, gauging his reactions, trying to tell if he was telling the truth. It didn't bother Naruto. If he were them, he wouldn't believe him either. He himself noticed that he was taking it all amazingly well, but he just needed to prove the situation to them. And maybe he was just in shock. Yeah, that was probably it.

"If you don't believe me, I can prove I'm from a future period."

"Ok. Prove it." Kakashi said. He and Naruto locked stares.

"You are a holder of the bloodline limit Sharingan which, at this point, is only the three tomoe version."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, as if asking Naruto if that was really all he had to prove himself to them. "You can't do any better than that? That's information you can find in a detailed bingo book." The man said with a drawl.

But Naruto had to think. He couldn't just tell them about something that was going to happen and wait for it to happen to prove the truth of his words. They would detain him and keep him under watch until then, and he couldn't afford to _be _under watch. He really wasn't sure what would happen if he told them too much. Either way, looking into his sensei's eyes, he could tell that he hadn't convinced the man yet.

"Let's see. Have the events between Konoha, the Hyuuga clan, and the Lightening country become open to the public yet?" He directed the question at the Hokage, and as he saw wide eyes, Naruto knew that the Hokage had been convinced by just the notion that he had such knowledge. But Kakashi still was not.

"No, they haven't." Sarutobi answered.

"Well, long story short Hyuuga Hizashi gave his life in his brother's place in repayment to the Lightening country after Hiashi killed a delegate who was trying to abduct his daughter, Hyuuga Hinata. Ever since then, the two branches of the clan have gotten even more hostile towards each other. Neji, Hizashi's son, still believes that the Lightening country demanded his father as the repayment whereas the actual price was the body of Hiashi."

"You've had contact with Hinata and Neji at the academy, Naruto. Either of them could have told you." Iruka said. Naruto knew he was trying to believe him, but he also had to make sure that Naruto wasn't an intruder here in Konoha with ill intentions. He looked like Naruto, but from his actions against Mizuki, it was easy to tell he wasn't the Naruto they, minus Kakashi, knew.

"Neither of them knew at this point in time. Nor did I have enough contact with them for them to trust me enough to tell me if they did." Naruto replied.

"That's true. Hiashi himself came to me and told me that he would not tell either of them until he thought they would be ready for the truth."

Naruto rolled his eyes. The Hyuuga head was going to have problems with Neji within a year or two. He almost sighed in irritation. He supposed he'd have to deal with that again in this timeline. Once Neji had gotten over his little 'fate' thing, he'd gotten infinitely more tolerable and had been a trustworthy friend.

"Kakashi, there is no way for him to have known that, especially if he was a spy. The only people who know and knew about it are Hiashi, Hizashi, who is dead, and myself. Everyone else believes as Naruto claimed Neji does, that the Lightening country demanded Hizashi as the payment and not Hiashi." The Hokage confirmed.

Sure enough, when he looked into Kakashi's eyes, any light of skepticism had vanished and, as Naruto looked around, he couldn't see any suspicion from the other two. When Naruto's gaze finally settled on Sarutobi, his first thought was that the man looked tired. Naruto was sad to be the cause of such a look, but he was still glad to be able to see the man. Hopefully he wouldn't have to see the man die again, either

"What do we do, then?" The Hokage asked.

"You don't have to worry too much about it. I think…" Naruto paused and really thought about his options for a few minutes. The one thing that kept popping up in his mind was one of his dearest wishes. He smiled softly. "I will just try to keep everyone I care for alive for now. Like I said, I'm not sure how much I can tell you, but I'll tell you what I can, when I can. Now, can I see the team match-ups you've prepared for the Academy graduates, Gramps?"

"Stop calling me that, damn it!" Sarutobi said even as he pulled out the list. Naruto looked it over and, grinning as he saw it was the same, he handed it to Kakashi.

"What'd I tell you, Sensei?" he said smugly.

Kakashi quickly found his name on the list and shook his head in amazement. Below his own bolded name were three more:

Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke

"Oh, and one thing, Sensei. Don't change the test just because I know what it is. It's very important to the way our team works together. Just think of me as an especially talented student. I won't know your every move. And right now I can barely use half the jutsu I know 'cause I don't have nearly the chakra reserves I did… er… will have…Agh! Damn it! That's irritating! I don't know which tense to use!" He scowled.

Iruka chuckled lightly, already somewhat used to the situation. "We'll just have to help you whenever we can. Besides, I understand why you can't tell us anything. Your just being here has affected what happens next."

"That's exactly what I'm worried about. I don't know if I've done any good, or if I've just made everything twenty times worse just by coming back by accident. I don't even know if I can go back… though I most certainly wouldn't want to." He mumbled the last part, but the other three all caught it and exchanged glances as his head was down. They didn't comment on it.

Sarutobi spoke in a smooth, calming voice. "As Iruka has said, we will help you whenever we can, Naruto, and whenever you need it."

Naruto nodded.

"Thank you. And, if I've messed things up, I'm sorry."

"You haven't." the Hokage told him firmly. They met eyes. Naruto broke their gaze, but, now somewhat resolved, Naruto nodded again. He turned towards the door and looked back at the other three, who were now framed by the light of the morning sun behind them.

"I'll see you later then, Iruka-sensei, old man. I don't think I'm up to going to the academy today, but I'll 'meet' you tomorrow, Kakashi-sensei. I'm going to my house. It's overdue for a good cleaning if I remember how I kept it when I was this age." He walked out the door with a good feeling, something resembling, happiness, or maybe hope. He couldn't be sure. He hadn't felt it for a long time.


	3. Fate Play

**3**

Naruto made his way slowly to his home, enjoying the smiles of the people who'd not yet noticed him. There were a few people who had seen him, and he firmly tried to ignore them, but it hurt to see the hateful glances he was so unused to now. Nevertheless, he was glad to see the villagers well and alive, and glad to see Konoha in one piece, unharmed as of yet from the attack from Pein.

He didn't think too deeply on his situation for the moment, but rather, he focused on his surroundings, and how awkward his limbs felt. He just knew it would be a long while before he got this body into working order. Not to mention his pitiful excuse for chakra reserves.

So absorbed was he in his musings, he didn't see the small form running in front of him until he was hit by it, it's shoulder solidly hitting Naruto's gut. The blond stepped back in surprise and put a hand to his stomach, catching the breath the impact knocked from him. He glanced down at the boy, who, he reminded himself, was not much younger than he himself was now. The short brunette's face was becoming red; whether from becoming mad after being knocked down or from embarrassment over the fact, he couldn't be sure.

"Oi!" Anger, then. "Watch where you're going!"

Naruto's eyebrow rose elegantly from years of habit. It probably looked out of place on his childish face; he'd have to work on that later. "You were the one running." He stated.

Konohamaru gaped at him, his mouth opening and closing quite few times before he found the words to speak with. "Who do you think you are? I am the Hokage's grandson! You don't have the right to-!" Konohamaru was interrupted as Naruto cuffed him on the ear. The boy was so surprised that he lost his balance and pitched forward to land flat on his face.

When Konohamaru looked up to snap at him, he saw the look on Naruto's face and jerked back, cowed. There was a look of mixed emotions on the blond's face. Traces of amusement, irritation, confusion, and happiness danced back and forth openly across his face, but most outstanding was a deep, unbroken sense of grief that hid underneath it all.

Now, Konohamaru wasn't usually the perceptive type, but he could read the look easily enough. And it scared him. He listened very quietly and very carefully when Naruto spoke to him, the blond's voice sounding too old for his apparent age.

"…Listen up. You don't have the right to tell me what I can or cannot say or do. I don't care who you are, _Konohamaru_. You are what you prove yourself to be to me, and, right now, in my eyes, you're just a snot-nosed brat who can't do anything but hide behind his grandpa's name." The blond growled out.

There was silence for several moments. Konohamaru stared at the blond. He'd told him all of that smoothly and fearlessly, uncaring of his title, grandson of the Sandaime hokage. Nor had the small brunette missed the fact that Naruto had used his name, something Konohamaru had neglected to tell him.

In the silence caused by his own statement, Naruto studied the boy. And there it was. A familiar hunger in Konohamaru's eyes, one that Naruto did not miss, a hunger so like his own. A hunger for recognition. Recognition of his own abilities, not of any title or because of someone else.

"Who are you?" came Konohamaru's whispered question, a form of respect and a question for forgiveness all at once.

"Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki." He shut his mouth with a snap. That was how he'd introduced himself…before. He couldn't say he was related to Minato Namikaze anymore. No one knew he was the fourth's son in this time. Thankfully, Konohamaru didn't recognize it. Naruto had accepted his apology just by not walking away from him.

"Are you a full-fledged ninja, Uzumaki-san?" the brunette asked, thankfully using his latter surname, noting Naruto's hitai-ate headband and trying to ignore the fact that he'd just been lectured by this same person not moments before.

"Naruto, just call me Naruto and, yes, I am." Naruto said, still feeling pride in the fact, even though he'd been a ninja for years. For all the happiness it'd given him.

Konohamaru's eyes lit up. "That's so cool! I can't wait until I'm a ninja. I'll take over as the Hokage when gramps steps down!"

Naruto was silent for a moment. He remembered how their rivalry had been so important to Konohamaru, but he himself no longer pined over the position of hokage, he only wanted to fix everything. But, no, he couldn't just leave his new (although, really, they'd been friends for a long while in his own time) friend be. He'd needed their friendship just as much as Konohamaru had. He momentarily wondered if fate was playing with him, allowing him to go back only to make him relive all his experiences in a different manner.

He plastered a cocky smile on his face. "You'll have to get through me first. 'Hokage' is my title."

Konohamaru blinked at him, and then he grinned. They were definitely friends now, Naruto could tell. "Then we'll be rivals, Naruto." The blond grinned back at him, remembering similar conversations between the two of them.

"Nah….You can just take my place when I'm done with it. I'll even teach you into the position. How's that sound?" He chuckled at Konohamaru's sour look.

"Not a chance! I'll definitely beat you!"

"You'll have to become a ninja first." He pointed out. The brunette flushed and pouted before darting off in the direction he'd been heading originally, Hokage Tower, shouting all the way: "I'll beat you, you'll see!"

Naruto laughed under his breath then continued on his own route with a new thought reeling in his mind. He wouldn't pretend anymore. He wouldn't act the fool; he'd make his name something other people could hear and appreciate. It'd happened eventually in his own time- when he'd defeated Pein- but, by then, it was too late. Many of the people on Konoha had died because he couldn't do anything, because he hadn't done anything. But now…

No, now he wouldn't be pretending. He would be lying. To him, it was a significant difference. He hadn't known better the first time around, trying to protect himself. This time, he knew his options. He would be _choosing_ to lie. He was playing a dangerous game.

Any enemies he made could easily frame him if they found out he was manipulating missions and people of his own initiative without specific orders from the Hokage to do so. He'd be labeled as a traitor, regardless of whether what he did benefitted the village. If that point came, though, he wouldn't allow them to arrest him. Although he loved his village, he'd had enough of the foolish laws of Konoha. He'd likely become a rogue ninja, a missing Nin. He'd be hunted until he proved his innocence, which he wouldn't be able to do because he _wasn't _innocent of the charges. His team wouldn't ever forgive him.

But he could live with it if he could protect what he needed to.

**xXx**

Naruto returned to his home around noon. He'd stopped by a shop whose owner had been somewhat kind to him at this age to buy some cleaning chemicals and some healthy food, not to mention, fresh milk. He'd also bought a new black shirt and a pair of what he thought would be comfortable training pants. Whatever had possessed him to wear all orange in the first place escaped him.

His living room was just as he remembered it. Just as messy, too. There were half-empty ramen bowls lying everywhere, right next to piles of dirty clothes and open books and scattered scrolls. Taking one look at the mess made his stomach turn. He'd become somewhat OCD over the years, so he couldn't understand how he had ever been this bad at keeping his home clean. For Kami's sake, he'd been living by himself since before he was six! He decided he'd start in the kitchen and work his way out. Naruto walked through a doorway to his left and put the bags of food and chemicals down on a semi-cleared area of the counter.

The kitchen wasn't much better than the living room, but at least the trash can was in there. He pulled the large canister out from below the sink and started dumping instant ramen bowls into it. Just doing that cleared over half the Kitchen's counter and floor space. Why had he loved those noodles again? Oh, right, they didn't cost much.

He started pulling his newly purchased food out of the bags and, after rearranging the pantry (which was more than full of instant ramen) and meticulously sanitizing his small fridge (more ramen, however, why it had been in the fridge, he didn't know), he put them all away. He put most of the chemicals away as well; he wouldn't need them for a little while anyway. When he stepped back to admire his work, he was rather satisfied with the job he'd done. The counters were all sparkling clean with no food on them at all and the floor could be seen under his feet.

The rest of his day was spent doing the same makeover throughout his small home, stacking scrolls and books into a bookcase in his room, scrubbing the floors free of dirt that had piled up over months of non-cleaning, and, of course, throwing away ramen bowls his younger self had never bothered to pick up. Maybe this time, when Kakashi and Gramps decided to make a surprise visit while he was away, which he remembered Kakashi telling him about when he was older, they wouldn't be greeted by such an embarrassing mess. How he could ever stand it before was a complete and utter mystery. It was probably just a part of being the hated demon kid; no one really cared if you cleaned up after yourself or not. But this work was somewhat relaxing and he planned to concentrate fully on it until he was more confident he could handle thinking of other things.

By the time he had finished cleaning everything it was beginning to get dark outside. He went into the kitchen and made a quick meal of fruit and bread before eating it while he stood at the counter. After finishing his meal, he made a quick check around the kitchen. Remembering something, he opened the fridge door. Seeing immediately what he was searching for, Naruto quickly threw away the expired milk in the fridge. It wouldn't do for him to have to run back and forth to the bathroom all day tomorrow because of spoiled milk. Kami, he couldn't believe he'd done that the first time; that had been beyond embarrassing. And how he'd impersonated Sasuke…

Any and all traces of exhaustion disappeared as Naruto made his way to the small shower that connected to his room. He'd see Sasuke tomorrow, after they took their pictures for the ninja records that Konoha kept on each graduate and ninja joining Konoha's ranks. Sasuke was alive and well in this time. Naruto had a second chance and he wasn't going to botch it up. He smiled widely at his reflection.

Naruto wondered what the Teme would do when he didn't act like the idiot he had been back at the academy. Or what he and Sakura had thought today when they heard Iruka-sensei announce him to be a part of their team when they thought he'd failed the graduation test. Naruto would have gone, but, as he had told the Hokage, Kakashi and Iruka the night before, he hadn't been quite ready to do anything today. Not only did he want to mentally get used to being back in this time, but he also wanted to begin to get used to a child's body once again; he was still tipsy when he tried to do anything other than walk, jog, or run slowly, but he hoped he would get used to it after a little training. He'd have to get used to acting like a child, too, as well as remembering what he could and could not say. His mistake in introducing himself to Konohamaru was not the worst mistake he could have made, but it certainly had potential. There were people who still remembered the name of the Fourth Hokage, and not all of them were benevolent.

The teams would meet their sensei tomorrow in their old classroom at 9:00 am, or at least that's what he'd heard an academy teacher telling someone at the store he'd visited earlier. Though the store owner sold to Naruto, he still wasn't welcomed there nearly as much as at Ichiraku Ramen. He wanted to get some things done the next morning, so he planned on taking his shower and going to sleep early.

He turned the hot water of the shower on along with a little cold so it didn't burn him when he stepped into it. Slowly pulling off his shirt, he hissed as the fabric pulled away from the scabs of some fresh cuts on his back. He'd forgotten about them, hell, hadn't even felt them because his pain tolerance had been so high even at this age.

He'd have to be more careful when going out at night until he got more used to this body. The beatings from the villagers had gotten so bad when he was this age that he hadn't been able to go out at nighttime at all. Then, the lower ranking ninja had joined in. Thankfully the higher ranking ninja had deigned it beneath themselves to beat a child (although most hadn't even known about it), even if it was the demon carrier. He would have died before he'd ever become a ninja if they hadn't.

He pulled the mirror away from the wall and reached inside the hidden medicine cabinet to get a small jar of healing cream. He set it on the sink, summoned a clone without too much effort, although the chakra depletion made him light-headed for a second, and handed the jar to him. The clone rubbed the cream along four long jagged cuts on his back. They were red and swelling, but the cream helped to relieve some of the pain. Once the clone was done, Naruto dispelled it and stepped out of his disgustingly orange sweat pants and black boxers and into the shower.

The cream was a special type that was supposed to be used while under a spray of water, so it wouldn't wash away. Instead, the water actually helped it seep into the skin around the wounds and heal them faster. It was a tincture of his own invention, made when he'd been trying to find a mixture of herbs he could pick in the forest surrounding Konoha that he could use to heal the evidence of his beatings. Although he and she had spoken, Kyuu hadn't been able to heal wounds larger than a scratch when he was younger because her chakra had been almost completely sealed until the mission to Kirigakure.

He'd not wanted anything to keep him back from the title of hokage, especially not evidence of abuse that could cause him to be mentally unstable, so he'd used the plants he'd learned about at the academy and had created, from scratch, the tincture to minimize the scarring and heal him faster. Pretty damn smart for a seven year old with no parental figures, he thought. Whoever said he wasn't listening in class?

He picked up an unmarked bottle that he remembered was shampoo he'd made from some scented herbs in the forest. He couldn't remember exactly what they were, though. He'd have to look around his apartment; he knew he'd written the recipe for the shampoo he'd made somewhere. What? It smelled good!

He ran his hair under the constant stream of water and squeezed a little of the shampoo from the bottle into his hand. He returned the bottle to the shelf on the wall of the shower and rubbed the shampoo into his hair, working the dirt from the forest out of it along with the sweat of the past twelve or so hours. After rinsing it from his hair completely, he grabbed a bar of soap and quickly washed the rest of his body, having felt the water begin to grow cold.

By the time he stepped out of the shower, he was shivering and he snatched the towel from the bar on the wall, speed dried and walked not unhurriedly to the old beat-up dresser in his room, which was pushed up against the wall to the left of the bathroom doorway, on the opposite side of the room as the bed. Naruto pulled on a pair of almost-too-small pajama bottoms, but he left his chest bare. Still drying his hair, he grabbed his tooth brush from where he'd apparently left it the last time he'd used it, on his bedside table, and walked back into the fogged-up bathroom. He took his toothpaste out and brushed his teeth before hanging the towel he'd used back on the bar on the wall and retreating from the stuffy bathroom to his bedroom.

He tried to keep his thoughts focused on what was going to happen soon, what he was going to do, what he was going to say, but his mind kept going back to his past. He'd managed to focus on all the little menial before-bed rituals, but now that he had nothing else to do, the thoughts were converging on him. He was almost afraid to sleep for fear of what his own mind may do to him, but he'd had to sleep through such thoughts during the war. He knew how to coax himself into a dreamless sleep, but it wasn't that that scared him so much at the moment. It was what went through his mind just before he managed to make his restless imagination and memory quiet. It wasn't just Sasuke's death that had earned itself an honored spot in the darkest corners of his mind. That fact was what scared him.

Kyuubi tried to calm him before he went to sleep most nights, and although her efforts were rarely successful, she never stopped trying. He was in the midst of a conversation with her as he pulled back the covers to his bed.

_**You don't have to worry about that anymore, Kit. None of it. We can fix it all now. We could even save, what were their names? Oh, right, Zabuza and Haku. I know you were especially fond of the ice user. He was quite kind to you.**_

_That was only because he didn't know what I was._ Naruto answered her, stubbornly refusing the idea. His childhood, no matter how many friends he'd made in his lifetime, always came back to him, making him adamant in the belief that no one could possibly like him if they'd known what he was.

_**That's not true, Kit. Remember? He didn't care even after he found out you had a demon's powers. He only recognized you as the stronger fighter. And what about the Fifth Hokage, and Iruka and Kakashi?**_

Naruto sighed._ I know, I know. You're right. It's just…I think this time is starting to get to me. Bad memories, you know?_

Kyuu growled. _**Of course. I had to sit here and watch what these bastards did to you just because your father sacrificed you for the good of the village. These people are fools! None of them even realized you could have been a chuunin when you were nine. I think Jiraiya was the only one who ever actually fully realized the true extent of what you knew.**_

_Shush, Kyuu. You're making me sound like a damn genius. The only reason I knew so much was because I studied so much. I didn't-_couldn't_-spend time with other kids my age, so I just spent a lot of time in the library and training on my own. Plus, if you'll remember, I did a rather good job making myself look the idiot._

_**I know, but it is irritating that they couldn't see past even a child's mask. That they didn't care to. That they couldn't see your potential.**_

_No, actually, quite a few of the older ninja were aware of my_ potential_. They were quite afraid of it, too, if I remember correctly. I think it was Danzou who tried to get me locked up, wasn't it? Ah! That reminds me. That old bastard is still alive in this time. We'll have to find a way to get rid of him._ With that happy thought, Naruto yawned loudly and rubbed his eyes and blew out the candle that lit his room so that he sat in his bed in pitch darkness. It didn't take too long for his eyes to get used to the dark, thanks to Kyuu's demonic powers, which had enhanced nearly all his senses.

_**I agree. But that is for tomorrow. Sleep now, Kit. I will ward off your dreams as best I can.**_

_All right, but make sure to get some rest, too. I know you're still tired after that jutsu._

_**I will, Kit. Goodnight.**_

'_night._

Naruto fell asleep easily for the first time in ages, not even needing a dreamless sleep as he dreamt of the future. A future without the deaths of any of his precious people. Kyuu happily joined him once she was sure her host's dreams were sweet.


	4. Daily Ramblings

**4**

Naruto woke the next morning from a dream he couldn't remember. It had been a good one, though; rare for him. He was completely awake the moment he opened his eyes, something he'd learned to do over years of long-term missions into other ninja countries during the war. This reaction proved a theory he'd had. He figured that he remembered everything he'd ever done or learned, but it only showed mentally. Physically, which included his chakra system, he was still a young, developing child ninja.

Well. That was good to know. Note the sarcasm.

Naruto sat up and stepped out of his bed, his toes curling away from the cold feel of the wooden floor. He went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth, and combed his unruly hair (which, he thought to himself, he would have to grow out again) in quick succession. Once done with those simple morning tasks, he pulled off the pants he'd slept in and, in their place, put on his new dark brown training pants. They were made specifically for use by ninja, so it had a pouch at his right thigh where the pants kept tight to the skin to keep the pouch from moving when it had kunai or shuriken and such in it. He pulled the named weapons from the top drawer of his bedside table and filled the pouch with them, knowing that the hitai-ate basically gave him permission to carry such weapons at all times, instead of just for training.

Next, he pulled on the plain black short-sleeved shirt he'd bought to wear with the pants. It was light and loose enough to move in easily but fitted enough to keep out of his way. He'd spent the last of his month's allowance on the clothes, food, and cleaning supplies, but it was worth it. Although wearing the orange had helped him develop his technique for undetected movement (A/N: I mean, really, who wouldn't be able to point out a big glob of orange during a recon mission? Not that Sakura was much better with her pink outfit), he'd found that black usually helped in the camouflage area.

He put on his pair of blue, standard issue ninja sandals and walked smoothly into his kitchen. As he made a breakfast of eggs, toast, and a glass of milk (the traditional morning meal), Naruto wondered if he could ask old man hokage for a small loan. Just enough to buy some clothes and proper food. He'd never asked before because he had too much pride in the fact that he'd survived all on his own without anybody else. But, if he got himself killed because his enemies saw his orange jacket or because he passed out during a fight from malnutrition, he wouldn't be able to say he'd survived anymore.

He sat down at the kitchen table with his plate of food and got back up not five minutes later to put the empty plate and utensils in the sink; he'd wash them later. He still had some chores to do once he got back from the meeting with Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi. The fact that the floors still needed cleaning was the only reason Naruto was wearing his shoes inside the apartment.

Going over a checklist in his mind (i.e. clothes, food, weapons, etc…), Naruto laughed to himself, thinking someone would probably think he was an idiot from the way he'd been grinning all morning. But, really, his heart was just pounding in excitement of seeing his best friend alive again.

He stepped out the door to his apartment, locked it behind him, and went straight to Hokage Tower. Walking at a moderate pace, head held high, with a shit-eating grin on his face, he received quite a few curious stares, though he suspected many of them to be because of his new outfit. It appeared that the owners of the stares had confused him for a stranger. That was, at least, until they recognized the blond hair and his whisker scars. After that, it was back to the old, hate-filled, degrading looks. Avoiding him when walking by in the street. Going out of their way to make him feel isolated and unwelcomed. It didn't faze him that much, but it wasn't exactly how he wanted to be treated, and he wasn't quite used to it happening all over again.

He reached Hokage Tower rather quickly, thankfully, and went up to the top floor to take his ID picture. Naruto only had to wait a second after knocking the door to the left of the stairway for the man inside to open the door. Once again, the chore went rather quickly, and Naruto left the room after the man congratulated him on a rather fine picture and for his graduation from the academy. He must not have been from Konoha.

Looking at his watch and seeing that it was only four minutes until eight o'clock, he figured he had time to drop in on the hokage. Naruto walked down the hall until he reached a large set of doors. He knocked and, receiving an "Enter!" from inside, walked in leisurely.

"Well? What is-? Oh! Naruto. I thought it was a Jounin or Anbu. I couldn't sense your chakra. When did you…?" Sarutobi Hiruzen left the sentence hanging as he lay down his pen and the report he'd been reading over. Naruto mentally grimaced. That was another reason he no longer treasured the position of hokage. Paperwork. Then he registered what the old man had said.

"You couldn't? Damn, sorry. It's habit. I used to be in ANBU for a little while…" Naruto frowned, trying to lift his suppression on his chakra. When the Hokage nodded at him, letting him know that his chakra was perceivable, Naruto sighed, not liking the feeling of vulnerability that came with the fact that his chakra was out in the open. The Hokage gestured for him to sit in the chair that sat across the desk, attracting Naruto's attention. Naruto sat.

"It's…strange. How…how old are you now?" Sarutobi seemed confused. Naruto paused before answering, but thinking on it, he didn't see any problem with revealing his own, later, past. It had already likely been drastically changed when he came back in time. Not to mention that the old man was as good to him as a father and, even if he wasn't, he was the hokage. Regardless of what it was, Naruto figured that Sarutobi deserved to know who was in his village.

"I'll be twenty-two in three months." Naruto tried to tell him with his tone that he was open for questions, and the man picked up on it. Sarutobi sat up straighter and clasped his hand on the desk in front of him; the position he'd always taken when questioning Naruto about his reasons for committing one of his old pranks.

"How did you get your chakra training, then? That _is_ ANBU training. You couldn't learn it from many other places, and ANBU doesn't normally let you into their ranks until you're twenty-one. You're far too good at it for you to have only been at it for just nine months." The gray-haired man put a questioning tone on his statement.

"That's because I joined ANBU when I was seventeen. I was infiltrating ROOT to take down Danzou and—Oh, sorry. I keep thinking that bastard's still dead. Can't tell you too much 'bout him, but, anyway…I left ANBU around when I turned twenty. I went on a training trip and didn't plan on coming back to the village for a while. To be in ANBU, I had to be on active duty, and, because I would be gone for so long, they had to take me off duty."

"How did you get into ANBU so young?" The Sandaime asked, looking surprised, if not a bit let down because Naruto wouldn't tell him anything about Danzou. Naruto smirked at that. He was sure that Danzou and the elders had been just as much a pain in the ass to Sarutobi and the other Hokage as they had been to Tsunade.

"I can't tell you that, but we both know that children younger than me have been recruited since before you were even Hokage."

Sarutobi sighed and nodded. "That's true, but it's usually ROOT that does that. And even then, once a child reaches twelve, it's rare that they are recruited." He pressed his forehead into his hands and leaned on his elbows which were resting stiffly on the desk. When he spoke again, it was with an air that made Naruto think that he should think on his answer very carefully. "While we're on the subject of ROOT, Why did you refer to Danzou as a 'bastard'? What did he do to you?"

It was Naruto's turn to sigh. He'd been so set on not telling anyone what he knew for the fear that releasing such information would make the situation even harder to deal with. But, again, Sarutobi deserved to know, and he was sure he would need help to do what he needed to do. So, needing help to decide, he turned to Kyuu, who had been watching the going ons passively, if not sleepily.

_Should I tell him?_

_**You want to change what happened in the past, not to stay along the same storyline. If you tell him, he'll help you get rid of Danzou. But, keep in mind, if you tell him too much, he might restrict your movements. He cares about you.**_

_Yeah. And if he knows too much he might get killed again. I plan for him to retire at a ripe old age. Hopefully we can convince Tsunade to take the position of fifth hokage without him dying._ Naruto smirked mentally. _She's fond of bets. Perhaps I can get her to bet on the outcome of a fight between me and her. After a while of retraining, of course._

_**Naturally.**_ Naruto mock glared at his mental image of Kyuu. She grinned like a madman… er… mad-fox. Naruto decided to go back to his conversation with Gramps, who was looking at him curiously. He shook his head.

"Sorry. I zoned out a little. I've got to leave soon, but I'll tell you a bit, all right?" Sarutobi nodded. "I'm not on very good terms with Danzou for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that he was part of a plot to capture and kill me when I was sixteen. The ironic thing was that, during his brilliant plan, he died instead. ANBU got cleaned up right quick after that." Naruto grinned nonchalantly. He saw Sarutobi curse under his breath and sighed heavily, assumedly thinking just how much of his life would be easier if Danzou weren't around. Even if he hadn't before he'd heard Naruto tell the short story, there was no way for him not to loathe the ROOT leader now.

"I understand exactly how you feel. I had hoped that you would enjoy some help in taking him down?" Naruto trailed off.

"Of course!"

"Good. But, for now, I was hoping I could ask you for a favor."

"Certainly. What do you need, Naruto?" Sarutobi looked curious again.

"I was wondering if I could borrow some money for food and clothes. I had forgotten how miserably I had lived at this age and, now that I remember, I do not feel like living like that again. My diet was rather unhealthy."

Naruto stopped looking at his hands, which he had folded into his lap as he spoke, and saw, as he switched his gaze to Sarutobi, that the man's eyes had widened.

"What is it?" He asked, even though he was sure he knew why the man had reacted in such a fashion. Before, he hadn't trusted anyone enough to risk asking something like this.

"I never expected you to ask for help. I know how you lived, but I was afraid you'd push me away if I offered."

"Gramps. I may look it, but I'm not a child. I've learned that it makes life much harder than it has to be if you don't ask for help. I was foolish to live as I did just because I was too proud to ask for help. Could I take some money as a loan and pay it back once my team and I start missions?"

Sarutobi's eyes softened into understanding and he nodded. "Of course you can. I would say that you don't need to pay me back, but I don't think you'll accept that, even now." He smiled as Naruto nodded in agreement to the statement. "Come back later this afternoon so I can give it to you. And you'll have to tell me some more about your life then as well."

Naruto glanced at the clock above the doors behind him. It was eight twenty-seven. Time passed quickly. He had thirty-three minutes to make his way to his old classroom to meet with his team. He grinned.

"All right. I've got to go for now, but I'll come back after Kakashi tells us what he wants us to do for his test tomorrow. I always enjoyed sitting and talking with you. It's relaxing." Naruto stood and stepped around his chair, going to the door. "Thanks!" He called, before closing the door behind him.

_**Are you going to tell him about me, Kit? It might help if someone knows about me, although he might send Yamato with you everywhere we go.**_

_Yeah, but that might not be best until after Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi know. I won't tell him until after we return from the mission to the land of waves. I want to be able to tell team seven what happened to me in the near future. It will hurt; lying to them until then._

_**Then don't lie. Just don't tell them the full truth. **_Kyuu suggested unhelpfully.

Naruto sighed. _I don't have any other choice. I have to. Sasuke will be mad, though._

_**But he'll be safe.**_

**xXx**

Naruto walked into the academy whistling softly under his breath. He was in the midst of wondering at the face Kakashi would make if he knew that Naruto knew that he was hiding right there in the shadows, not far from the classroom where they met for the first time. When he'd joined ANBU, he'd learned, as a result of honing his chakra sensory skills, that Kakashi was never actually late to any of the meetings team seven had had. He just liked to mess with his students to see if _they_ came on time, although sometimes he truly had been late as a result of paying his respects to his old teammates.

But, Naruto decided not to test his sensei. He'd have fun with that tomorrow, during the test itself. Naruto briefly wondered for a moment whether Kakashi would listen to him or not, about giving them the same test he had pre-planned. If he did, Naruto would have to hold back. Even though this body felt completely awkward, Naruto knew that he would still be far above any normal genin. Sasuke and Sakura would be suspicious if he suddenly got smart _and_ good at fighting, although he might be able to pull it off with the excuse that he trained by himself (true) and explained that he acted like a dunce at the academy to get attention (also true). After a second's pause at the door to the academy, Naruto decided that he would go with that explanation. It would be far easier that holding back all the time.

Naruto stopped outside the door to his old classroom. He was suddenly overwhelmed. He'd gone back nearly eleven years. He was going to get to see everyone from his life all over again, even the people who had died. He touched his forehead to the surface of the wooden pocket door as a wide grin split his face.

He grabbed the door handle and pulled it open, glancing around the near empty classroom as he entered. The room held a desk at the front which was situated in front of a chalkboard that took up the entirety of the wall behind it. The desk faced rows of student desks that were each raised up on platforms so that each row of desks was higher up than the one in front of it.

Sasuke and Sakura sat in the second row back. Sasuke had a black look on his face; probably because Sakura was trying to talk the boy's ears off. Naruto internally shook his head; the girl may be like a sister to him, but she had been seriously annoying at this age. He couldn't believe he'd had a crush on her.

The pale (although, thankfully, _this_ paleness at least had life to it), black-haired raven just sat there, his chin resting on looped fingers, staring at the front of the room. Naruto glanced at Sakura. She didn't seem to be affected by Sasuke's silence in the slightest. The pink haired girl just continued talking, and talking, and talking…

That was, at least, until she noticed Naruto. She sent him a dirty look; most likely because he disturbed her alone time with _her_ Sasuke. He ignored the look, but, strangely enough (and probably as a result of having to see through the teme's masks for years), Naruto was able to catch Sasuke glance at him with a somewhat relieved glint in his eyes. Naruto mentally smirked.

"Sakura, how many times has Sasuke responded to anything you've said since you got here?"

Sakura flushed and stood up, glaring heavily at Naruto, surprisingly quickly understanding what the blond was implying. No offense, but the pink haired girl had been rather slow at glimpsing the meaning of things people said when she was around Sasuke.

At a glance, Naruto saw amusement in Sasuke's eyes. He would've been shocked, seeing these emotions from the teme was always a cold-hearted bastard who supposedly didn't feel anything, but Naruto knew the expressions had always been there. He'd just never been able to see them. He put showed his hands to Sakura in a show of acquiescence.

"Whoa, sorry." He grinned at her. "Just wondering why you're bothering him when he obviously wants to sit there like a statue." He caught a sneer thrown his way from the raven.

"Don't talk about Sasuke like that! And, for your information, I'm talking to Sasuke because I like him!" Naruto snorted audibly.

"For one, I can talk about that teme," another sneer "Any way I like. Secondly, I think we all- we being the whole of Konoha- know that you are infatuated with Sasuke Uchiha. You've made it abundantly obvious."

Surprisingly, just as Sakura was about to charge at Naruto, and he feared that he would have to run for his life (her punches were hard even at this age, damn it! And curse Tsunade for making them even stronger!), Sasuke spoke.

"Sakura. He's right. Leave me alone."

She looked at him unseeingly. She was shocked, but not disheartened (never disheartened!), that he would speak because of that blond idiot but not to her. Oh, well. She'd just have to try again until Sasuke went out with her!

As if seeing her thoughts, Naruto snorted again and scoffed. "Sakura, Sasuke's not just going to like you all of a sudden! Why don't you just try being quiet and tolerable?"

Sakura's mouth was still hanging wide open when Kakashi walked through the door behind him.


	5. A Bad Day

**5**

"So, tell me about yourselves." Kakashi said as the three of them settled down on the roof of the school building.

"Like what?" Sakura asked. She shot a glare over at Naruto just for the hell of it. Naruto just grinned at her.

"Oh, you know. What you like, what you hate, hobbies, dreams, etc…" Kakashi waved his hands around vaguely.

Naruto mentally smiled at his sensei. The man was thankfully acting like he didn't have prior contact with him, and he was doing the exact same thing he'd done the first time around. Instead of volunteering any information, Naruto sat silently. Sakura spoke in the silence.

"How about you go first, Sensei? Show us how it's done?"

Kakashi had apparently been anticipating the question. His visible eye quirked just slightly, but enough that Naruto could tell he was smirking. "Me? My name is Hatake Kakashi. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like talking about his likes and dislikes! My dreams for the future are none of your business…but, anyway, I have lots of hobbies… But, enough about me. Let's start with you on the left." Well, that was different. Last time Kakashi had started with Naruto, not Sakura. Naruto saw the man's eye-smirk practically grow as he saw the disgruntled looks his new team was giving him.

"I am Haruno Sakura." She started. "My favorite thing is… well, it's not a thing, it's a person. A boy. And that boy is..." She glanced at Sasuke, who studiously ignored her. "My dream…" She blushed furiously. Naruto internally gagged. Sasuke had a somewhat green look to his face. "I hate…Naruto!" Naruto's heart dropped into his stomach, even though he'd expected the words. He put a blank mask over his face. He saw Kakashi glance at him from the corner of his eye. "My hobbies are…" Sakura threw another glance at Sasuke.

Kakashi looked irritated. Probably because not once had Sakura said one thing about ninjutsu. He shook his head then focused on Sasuke, who started talking without prompting.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are plenty of things that I hate, but I don't see how that matters, considering there is almost nothing I do like. It seems pointless to talk about "Dreams". That's just a word…" He began, sounding just as vague as Kakashi had. The silver haired Nin looked strangely proud of the fact when Naruto glanced at him. "…but what I do have is determination. I plan to restore my clan. And there's someone I have sworn to kill."

Those last few words jolted Naruto out of his calm focus on the situation. A bloodied image shot through his mind. Caught off guard, he clutched at his heart at the sharp pain that burst through his chest and he momentarily stopped breathing. He gasped. All he could see were images of Sasuke's back. Standing, bloodied, in front of him in the Land of Waves. On the other side of the ravine at the Valley of the End. Staring down coldly at him from over his shoulder at Orochimaru's hideout. And then, at the end of the procession, dead at his feet. Naruto was choking. Drops of sweat ran down his cheeks, or were they tears?

_**-ruto! Naruto! Calm down. He's right there. He's okay.**_ Kyuu shouted over his sudden panic.

Once he grasped onto Kyuu's voice, Naruto gradually began to get more air into his lungs with each breath. Once he managed that, he could hear Kakashi's voice as well, instructing him how to relieve himself of his panic attack. It took him a few minutes to start breathing regularly again, and he quickly wiped his face clean of his tears. Kakashi sat next to him, rubbing calming circles into his back. He sent him a worried glance, Naruto shook his head. It was nothing.

He turned back to the other two, seeing that Sakura and even Sasuke were sending him curious, half-worried looks.

"I'm fine. It's happened a few times recently." A little white lie. "It's just stress. I'll get over it soon." Sasuke nodded minutely, while Sakura continued to stare at him. Desperate to change the subject, Naruto introduced himself.

"Uh…I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I don't particularly have anything I like or hate. My hobby is training, I guess, 'cause that's what I do in my free time. My goal is to fix some of the mistakes I've made. My dream is the same." He may have said too much, seeing the confused look on Sasuke's face. He'd apparently caught the slightly reminiscent tone in his voice; something that wouldn't normally been in the voice of a twelve year old. Of course, his goal wasn't exactly that typical of a child's, either.

Kakashi clasped his hands together and put his elbows on his knee. "Right. Well, formal training begins tomorrow. It will involve only the members of this cell."

"What will we be doing, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Survival exercises."

"But we've been doing survival exercises for years at the academy!"

"No. You'll be surviving against me. It's not the typical exercise. Only nine rookies will become genin. The other eighteen must go back to the academy for more training if they don't pass the test. This test has a 66% rate of failure!" Kakashi adopted a rather evil look to scare his students. But it didn't seem to work like he'd wanted it to.

Sakura looked shocked and Sasuke looked rather pissed off. Apparently he'd thought they were set once they passed the graduation exams as well. Naruto just watched the going ons, acting as if he were still recovering from his panic attack to avoid having to act surprised.

"Ha! See? You're chickening out already!"

"No, we're not!" Sakura exclaimed. Naruto glanced at her, surprised. She looked rather more determined to pass this test than she had the first time around. Even though it was probably only so she could stay around Sasuke, it was a start for her to become a great ninja.

"Regardless, we'll meet tomorrow morning at nine o'clock on the practice field so I can evaluate your skills and weaknesses. Bring all your ninja tools and weapons. And don't eat breakfast, unless you enjoy throwing up…" Then Kakashi just disappeared in a puff of white smoke. Naruto was sure Sakura and Sasuke couldn't tell, but he could sense his sensei had only moved to the roof above them, waiting to hear their reactions on the assignment.

"What did he mean by that?" Sakura threw her arms up in the air. "…if we enjoy throwing up…" She continued with a mumbled statement. "I'm not skipping breakfast just because we _might_ throw up." Sasuke absently nodded to her statement. He was sneaking glances at Naruto. He didn't think the blond caught them, but Naruto saw every one of them, though he acted like he didn't. However much Naruto wanted Sasuke's approval, he wanted Sasuke to know he could take care of himself. So, even though he still felt dizzy from the panic attack, Naruto forced himself to stand smoothly.

"See you guys tomorrow. Then we can pass Kakashi-sensei's test and get started on some missions." Sakura and Sasuke nodded their agreement and Sakura took off for her home to tell her parents about her new sensei after saying goodbye to Sasuke, of course. Sasuke glared after her for a moment once her back was turned and then went back to looking at Naruto, who hadn't yet moved to leave, although he'd been the one to utter the first farewells.

"You spent the entirety of your Academy years pining over Sakura. Why have you stopped now?" Sasuke suddenly questioned. "Why did you get her to leave me alone back in the classroom?"

"I figure she'll never like me that way, so I might as well not hurt myself trying. I wouldn't want her to change for me. As for the other question, you don't like her even a little in that way, correct?" a guarded nod. "I don't want her to be hurt either. She's a friend to me whether she knows it or not. She's one of the few people that speak about me to my face. The majority of the village just speaks about me behind my back, in whispers that are just loud enough that I can hear them.

"Did you know, those looks I got from you two, there are only three other people in this village right now who would look the same way if I had a panic attack in front of them? I'm not trying to get you to feel sorry for me." He said quickly, seeing the look on Sasuke's face. "I've gotten used to it by now. I've got it better than you. At least I didn't have the chance to know my family. A chance to love them. I can't even imagine…But… I've got a question for you." Sasuke had slowly been gaining a more guarded expression as Naruto spoke, but at the blond's last statement, he raised an elegant eyebrow in curiosity.

"Why are you listening to me like this? I thought you hated me." Of course, Naruto knew why Sasuke was here. He was curious. He was lonely. Once he left, he had to go back to an empty home full of painful memories. He was prolonging the time he had before that. And he knew Sasuke had never hated him. The raven had just thought that he was annoying.

Naruto wanted to see if Sasuke would actually tell him this. And he did.

"I…I don't hate you. And…I was curious as to what happened to make you have a panic attack like that." Sasuke pulled himself into a haughty stance, trying to save himself from looking even slightly capable of caring with his next words. But, Naruto knew this was a mask nearly as flawless as his own. One that had been carefully constructed and doctored over many years. "I wouldn't want it to happen again and become a problem on a mission."

Naruto laughed. "No. I'm working on the problem causing it. I've been under some stress lately; dealing with Mizuki-sensei was only a part of it."

Sasuke nodded and acted as if that were an acceptable answer to his question. "What happened with Mizuki-sensei? I heard he just moved." He walked to the edge of the building and sat on the railing, letting his legs dangle over it. Naruto followed suit.

Naruto was puzzled. He'd thought for sure that the rumor had spread throughout Konoha that he'd been the culprit in the theft of one of the forbidden scrolls at least. But it seemed not even that had gone out. Before, he'd thought that because no one believed he could have even gotten near the scroll, that they'd just dismissed it as a rumor, but apparently the hokage had decided to protect Mizuki's reputation. Naruto growled under his breath. Mizuki didn't deserve a good reputation.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked, hearing Naruto's growl. At the same time that he asked the question, he looked surprised that was still speaking with Naruto. The blond realized that Sasuke had probably never spoken more than a few words to anyone after the Uchiha Massacre. Naruto thought it over for a second, whether he should tell Sasuke or not. In the end, he decided it didn't really matter, as Sasuke wasn't the rumor spreading type.

"Originally, I failed the graduation exam again, but Mizuki, the bastard, convinced me that, if I stole one of the forbidden scrolls and learned a jutsu from it, I could graduate. I snuck into Hokage tower and took a scroll, and then I hid on the training grounds and learned the Kage Bunshin technique. Of course, Iruka-sensei found me, but Mizuki wasn't far behind. He tried to take the scroll and Iruka-sensei protected me, but Mizuki was about to kill Iruka-sensei, so I stepped in and beat him up. Mizuki's in prison now. And that's how I got my hitai-ate. Iruka-sensei was impressed with my shadow clones."

When Naruto looked up from his hands, he was happy to see Sasuke looked surprised, even impressed that Naruto had defeated their sensei in a fight. He might have even made a friend out of Sasuke more quickly than he had the first time. He wouldn't complain if that were the case.

"Hey, Sasuke," the boy didn't seem to mind that Naruto had used his first name without any honorifics. "Do you want to come with me around town? I need to do some stuff and wouldn't mind some company." He did a back-flip off the railing and landed on his feet a few feet away from it. He was facing towards the building Kakashi-sensei had hidden himself on. Naruto couldn't see him, but he could sense the older ninja's chakra. He waved at his sensei before turning back to Sasuke to see that the raven had just launched himself off the railing as well. Sasuke landed not a foot away from Naruto.

"Sure. I don't have anything to do." Naruto was honestly shocked into silence for a moment. He hadn't thought that Sasuke would accept his invitation.

"Right then. I've got to pay a visit to the hokage first."

**xXx**

"Gramps! I'm back!" Naruto greeted as he walked through the door, followed not long after by Sasuke.

"Gaki! I told you not to call me that!"

"Come on, Gramps. It's just a term of affection." Naruto grinned when Sarutobi couldn't find anything to say to that. "Um, could I borrow that money now? I don't know how long it's going to take, but I wanted to make sure I was done shopping before it gets dark. " He grimaced. Sarutobi's eyes widened as a suspicion Naruto knew the man must have had was confirmed, a glint of sadness entering them not a second later. The grey-haired Hokage nodded at the blond solemnly.

"Of course. Just be careful. Don't stay out too late." He pulled an envelope from a drawer in his desk and passed it over to Naruto, who folded and tucked it into his money pouch, Gama.

"I will. And thanks."

"It's no problem, Naruto. Ask whenever you need any help." Naruto nodded. "I'll come back tomorrow for our talk. Thanks again."

Sarutobi nodded as Naruto turned around and left the room, followed again by the silent Uchiha. Sasuke glanced at Naruto. "What was that about? About you not being out too late. Do you have a curfew or something?"

Naruto flinched. He'd hoped Sasuke hadn't caught that. He may be a friend, but he didn't want to tell him everything about himself. Especially not anything like that. Knowing how protective Sasuke could get for his loved ones, Naruto definitely didn't want to put that type of information in front of the avenger.

"It's nothing." It wasn't great, but it made sure that Sasuke knew it wasn't a good topic. But he'd already paused too long to make up a safe excuse or agree with the guess that he had a curfew. Sasuke took the hint. For now.

"Where are we going now?"

"I need to get some clothes. I was hoping you might know one or two good shops. I've only ever been to one place. I'm tired of those hideous orange jumpsuits."

"Why did you buy them in the first place?"

"Not everyone is filthy rich." Naruto smiled to let Sasuke know he was kidding and it widened when he noticed Sasuke pull ahead just slightly to lead the way. "I didn't have enough money for anything better. That's what the money I just borrowed from Gramps is for."

Sasuke nodded. "Why do you call the Hokage 'Gramps'?"

"Other than the fact that he's old?" Sasuke smirked. "He's a grandfather figure." Naruto shrugged. "I didn't know my parents, so I've labeled him as Gramps since before I can remember." He grinned at the boy walking at his side. Sasuke looked offset as to what he should say to that. Naruto was glad for a moment. An inquisitive Sasuke was odd for him to deal with. The Sasuke he had known had always withheld his questions unless he was sure they were important. But it was interesting to see this side of him.

They were walking over the bridge to the shopping district of Konoha now. Permanent and temporary shops lined a wide packed dirt road. Every so often you could see a horse walking down the middle of the road, people scattering to get out of its way. Sometimes, one of the horses could be seen pulling a loaded cart behind it, the horse's owner grinning at his good fortune in the market.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto, who looked like he was beginning to get queasy, and pulled him away from the loud and busy crowd. Naruto took a deep breath and nodded in thanks to Sasuke.

"Sorry. I can't stand big crowds. Not in Konoha, at least. I don't know about other towns."

_Damn it, Kyuu! Why do I still have your nose? And why are the scents so strong? I thought I got used to-! Oh… Never mind._

_**Right, Kit. New body, new nose. You'll have to train your nose again. Good luck.**_

_Unhelpful bitch._ Naruto grumbled. Kyuu just hummed in amusement.

"Naruto. There's a store over there that I get my training clothes at. Its cheep, good clothing, and its comfortable."

"Imagine that! The great Uchiha buys his clothes for comfort! Not for girls to drool over and try and guess what designer line they're from." Naruto snorted in amusement. While Sasuke tried to keep up a stoic mask, he couldn't hide the smirk that slipped through.

The two walked side by side into the store. There was no one at the counter watching the door, so they walked over to a rack of jeans and darkly dyed khakis. Naruto quickly found three pairs of black khakis that were his size and picked up a pair of jeans for the hell of it. Sasuke, in the meantime, had pulled out five shirts and a jacket for him to try on. The jacket had a theme similar to the jacket he'd worn after he'd lost his old one to Jiraiya-sensei's tutelage; mostly black with two small stripes of orange running around the waist. Two of the shirts were straight black, while the other three were light training shirts of various colors; a light forest green, deep blue, and a rich, blood red that reminded him of Kyuu's eye color.

_**Aww, how sweet of you to remember my eye color.**_

_Uh, I hate to tell you this…but it's kinda hard not to. I see it all the time. Even when I'm asleep. _Kyuu huffed.

Naruto took the shirts Sasuke showed him and checked the sizes, refraining from commenting on how much the raven seemed to be enjoying shopping. Knowing the sulky boy, it would probably lead to a sore subject that would make Sasuke shut himself off again. Naruto couldn't let that happen. Especially when he was doing so well at learning a side of Sasuke that he'd never seen before. It was, to say the least, odd to go shopping with his old rival/enemy/friend/brother. But not unpleasantly so.

"Ah, Sasuke! I haven't seen you in months! How have you been?" a voice boomed behind him. Naruto shivered at the somewhat familiar voice, but he convinced himself it didn't belong to who he thought it did. Plus, he hadn't heard it in years, what were the odds he would run into that person now?

Naruto saw Sasuke out of the corner of his eye being pulled into a huge bear hug by a giant of a man. Sasuke was lifted about a foot off the ground and plopped back down easily. Naruto wondered if this was the owner of the shop. He lifted his face from the tags on the shirts and shifted the clothes to a more comfortable holding position in his arms and watched the pair interact.

The middle-aged, mostly muscled man was completely oblivious to him and continued to speak and ask questions constantly, giving Sasuke no time to answer him. His back was to Naruto, though, so he didn't know if the man realized he was there. He wondered though, with a bad feeling that was slowly creeping up his spine, whether this was one of the villagers that couldn't stand his presence.

"…and the last time you came here was the beginning of last year's new academy school year. You must need new clothes now, right? Is that why you're here today? What are you looking for? Your training clothes must be in shreds. I just got a new inventory in. I'll even let you peek at it if you like. It won't be on the shelves for another week."

"Mr. Miyazawa-" Sasuke tried to stop the flow of words. Naruto scowled at the man, though he still hadn't been acknowledged. He couldn't tell exactly what it was, but he didn't like this man.

"Tobi. You should call me Tobi, Sasuke." Sasuke scowled at the interruption and at the use of his name without any honorific whatsoever.

"Tobi. I only came here today for a friend." Naruto grinned and whooped mentally at the title Sasuke had apparently used for him. "My clothes are in fine condition and I still have another couple of months before I'll need anything new. Are you done now?" he directed the last bit at Naruto.

"Yes." Naruto nodded, although his muscles were suddenly tense. He set the pile of clothes on the counter next to the register. Sasuke stepped up next to him, but leaned against the counter in an indifferent manner, facing away from the register and the shop owner, who had just come around the counter and pulled one of the black shirts into his hands. He still hadn't looked at Naruto, seeming to care about nothing more than the Uchiha who was gracing his store with a visit.

Naruto matched a growl that surfaced in his mind from Kyuu aloud. She'd cared about Sasuke almost as much as he had, if only for the reason that the young Uchiha had given Naruto a reason as to why he should continue to live. Someone like this, who'd acted like he cared about Sasuke's living conditions, but could really care less, was someone who didn't deserve to be living in the same village as Sasuke. The worst thing was that Naruto and Kyuu knew Sasuke recognized the lies as soon as they spilled from the man's mouth.

The said man glanced up at Naruto at hearing the low-pitched growl and Sasuke sent the blond a curious glance. Naruto mentally cursed as the look in the man's eyes changed. The glint of self-serving/ fake welcoming disappeared in what Naruto suspected to be record time for a citizen of the village. What was worse was that Naruto recognized the pair of brown and blue mixed eyes and the seemingly eternal hatred that completely filled them. He lost his breath and barely restrained himself from stepping back.

The man's face was suddenly red in a fury that not many of the villagers dared to show him directly, at least during the daytime. Not even having to see the man's glance at Sasuke, who'd straightened and was sending questioning glances at both of them, Naruto could tell the only thing keeping the man from closing shop and beating him nearly to death was the fact that they weren't alone.

"Get out." The man managed, surprisingly quiet for his rage.

"Wha-?" Sasuke began.

"Never come into my shop again, demon." At least Naruto finally understood the nickname the villagers had always used for him. "Get out." He stepped around the counter and started towards Naruto. The blond stepped back from the advance, but Sasuke's hand on his shoulder stopped his retreat. The hand brought him back to his senses. What was he doing, running? He could kill this man with little to no effort. He shouldn't be intimidated in the least. So…why was he shaking?

"Mr. Miyazawa. I suggest you stop this instant." His voice was firm and his eyes were just as hard as Sasuke glared at Tobi. Tobi stopped in his tracks. He opened his mouth to reply, but Sasuke cut him off. "What would the hokage say if he knew you were refusing to sell to a customer? I recall that there have been laws posted in Konoha recently against that." Sasuke gave the man no opportunity to interject. Tobi's eyes slowly gained a little fear when he realized Sasuke wasn't messing around. The Uchiha apparently knew his way around the blackmail process. "Sell these clothes to Naruto and we'll leave just as soon."

The two of them faced off in a glaring contest. Tobi was clenching his fists and was clearly irritated that a 12-year old was ordering him around. Sasuke stood calmly next to Naruto, a little in front of him as if to block Tobi from his view, with his hand still on the blond's shoulder. He could feel the knotted tenseness in Naruto's shoulder and the blond's shaking body.

Tobi abruptly dropped his gaze and retreated to the register. He quickly rung up the clothes and stated the total. Naruto dug the amount from the envelope the hokage had given to him and passed it to Sasuke, who slammed it on the counter and grabbed the two bags that the clothes had been stuffed roughly into. He handed the bags to Naruto.

"Thank you." The blond whispered. He was staring at the ground unwaveringly.

"No problem. Let's go." He replied.

As they approached the door, Sasuke held the door open for Naruto, who exited quickly, and turned around and stared at the man who was still at the counter, clenching at the edge of it so hard that his knuckles were white.

"Don't ever expect me to visit this shop ever again. And I'll make sure anyone who asks knows you have the worst service of any of clothing shop in Konoha."

Sasuke turned and exited the shop, looking for Naruto.

He was gone.


	6. A Tale For Your Troubles

**6**

Not an hour after running away from the shop and Sasuke, Naruto sat atop Hokage monument, having taken the clothes Sasuke had handed him back to his house and throwing them at his bed, not particularly caring whether they fell on the floor or not in his upset state. He now watched the afternoon bustle of Konoha, forcing himself to calm down and think about what had happened.

_I shouldn't have run from Sasuke. _He thought.

_**You were upset. It's understandable, given the circumstances. But, you know he'll want to know why once his Uchiha ego kicks in.**_

Naruto scoffed and then choked on a short laugh, imagining the old Sasuke, knowing exactly how he would have reacted had he been left like that. _That hypocritical bastard would have raised hell had I done what he did to me, yet he complained when I tried to bring him back._

He felt more than saw Kyuu's grin. _**I would imagine that this Sasuke is of the same mindset, especially after he referred to you as a friend in public. He'll feel foolish.**_

_I know. That and he stood up for me. I wonder why this Sasuke was so easy to befriend. It took years for him to acknowledge it before._

_**Perhaps he had a bad day and a different approach softened him up. The whole 'I'm gonna be Hokage' thing didn't go over so well with him last time when you all introduced yourselves to Kakashi. It just made him think you were even more of a dunce. This time around, your goals seem quite a bit more similar to his.**_

_When we were kids, I couldn't ever imagine the Great Sasuke having an off day. I finally realized he was like me, lonely; he'd just taken a different approach to hide his pain. _Naruto sighed deeply and shook his head.

_**What is it? **_Kyuu asked when she felt more than saw a grim look surface on his face

"What am I gonna tell him? About why I ran off?" he said aloud.

"How about the truth?" Naruto's head whipped around. He relaxed when he saw who had addressed him, but waited until the third hokage sat on the edge of the monument next to him to return his gaze to the village.

**xXx**

Sarutobi decided to explain his presence.

"I'm assuming you were talking about Sasuke Uchiha. The boy came by my office asking if you'd been by. He told me you'd run off after he explained what the shop owner did. I assure you, I'll have a talk with him."

"As much as he needs it, please don't. He'll only get angrier. Probably do something stupid." Sarutobi nodded in understanding. The two of them sat in companionable silence for a few minutes before he spoke again.

"Why did you run?"

Naruto straightened. He stared blankly at Konoha, vaguely in the direction of Tobi's shop. "I…I can't tell you."

Sarutobi studied the boy next to him, seeing Naruto's jaw clench.

"You're protecting him." He stated. Naruto whipped his head around to stare Sarutobi in the eye. The old man flinched at the hard, yet vulnerable look.

"I would _never_ protect someone like him! But…it's more like I'm protecting myself. You're the Hokage. I'm a hated part of the village. If I tell you why I ran, you'll be obligated to do something about it. Not only because of your position but because you care about me. If you do, how do you think others in the village will retaliate?"

Sarutobi nodded slowly in understanding, but he looked at Naruto with sad eyes, knowing he couldn't do anything about the boy's abuse without a confession from him.

"If I knew whether he does the same thing to anyone else, I would have told you immediately, but as far as I know, I'm the only one."

"Tell me, theoretically. What does he do?" Sarutobi nearly plead. For years he had suspected, but that had been the only thing he could do. Just as Naruto said, he was obligated to lead the village. He couldn't favor just one person. He could only do something if Naruto told him about his abuse. And it seemed that the man-turned-boy was still very much in the mind-set of his childhood years. He'd forgotten he could protect himself. But, as much as he wished to, he also knew that Naruto needed to get past this himself.

He watched as Naruto rolled the thought over in his head. The blond was scared but Sarutobi wanted to hear his suspicions confirmed from Naruto's mouth, even if he could do nothing with the words.

**xXx**

Kyuu seemed to understand Sarutobi's meaning in asking about Naruto's treatment in that manner. She spoke gently to Naruto.

_**Tell him. He cares for you. He was worried, if the fact that he came looking for you counts for anything. He'll respect your wishes.**_

"I…" Naruto sounded lost.

He'd kept the secrets of his past for years, if not the majority of two decades. He'd hidden it in the back of his mind, covering it up with a fragile mask. When Naruto had come back at the event of Sasuke's death, he'd finally forced himself to break the mask off, forgetting what it hid from his own mind. With the additional pain of witnessing Sasuke's death and then the shock of seeing him alive again not a day later, Naruto's emotions were a confusing tumult. He needed to speak to someone other than Kyuu, who already knew what he was going through.

_**Tell him.**_ She urged gently. _**He won't judge you.**_

Naruto quietly began his story.

"There…there was a boy in this village, who, anytime he walked outside after dusk, had to start running anytime he passed an alleyway. The only reason he didn't just stay inside after dark was because the academy's classes didn't end until it was almost nighttime. He was afraid because, ever since he'd been really young, he'd been attacked. The first time it happened, he was six and had just started school. He knew enough by then that nobody in the village besides his gramps," Sarutobi's eyes hardened at hearing the familiar nickname. "would do anything to help him, but gramps wasn't in the village; he was gone on a mission. So, the boy went back to his empty apartment to nurse his wounds. He was out of school for a week. No one checked on him.

"From then on, the boy was commonly pulled into alleyways or abandoned houses by masked adults, unable to see anything but their eyes. The adults got smarter and smarter, only hitting or cutting him where his clothes would cover the wounds. By the time he was eight, there were probably at least fifty different people who beat him on a regular basis. They called him _demon_ and _monster_. Told him he was a mistake and should never have been born. There was one particular villager, a man who treated him like he was less than dirt. The man beat him worse than anyone else did, more frequently, too."

Naruto had gotten quieter and quieter throughout the story, an almost deadly calm descending on him. Sarutobi noticed that there was a glimmer of hatred in the blond's eyes. He was amazed that that Naruto hadn't killed the shop owner yet, for Sarutobi was sure that was the man Naruto was talking about. Naruto continued after a short pause for breath; he was getting lost in his own story.

"By the time the boy turned ten, the man didn't just beat him or cut him anymore. He raped him. He made the boy beg and cry with his eyes because he'd stuffed the boy's mouth with dirty rags. He enjoyed tormenting him. He made the boy look into his eyes as he fucked him, and made the boy clean him up afterwards with his mouth. Then the man beat him worse for touching him, saying that he didn't deserve to touch him, even though the boy was beaten even worse if he refused to touch him.

"The boy tried many different routes to avoid his abusers, but, even though it worked for some of the people, the man always found him. The man raped him at least twice a month, making sure he could still walk, and did it even more as he got older as the man figured that, because he'd gotten away with it so far, he couldn't be caught. When the boy became a ninja, he was able to avoid the man the majority of the time, but then, the man found out it was easier to catch him right before he got into his apartment. Of course, the man was still careful never to do anything before it got dark."

Sarutobi realized that Naruto was now talking about himself in the future, since he'd only now been a ninja for two days. He was horrified that he'd never even noticed it had gone that far. He resolved to find a way to take this man out of Naruto's life.

"The man's attacks on him grew more frequent until the boy was sixteen, although they'd stopped for a while when he left the village for a few years, when they suddenly stopped altogether, when most of the villagers grudgingly recognized him as a hero for saving the village. The boy kept turning around, running past alleyways, until he realized that there wouldn't be any more attacks. Then… one day, the boy walked into a clothes shop with a friend."

Sarutobi sucked in a breath, knowing Naruto was now speaking of the present day, and of why he'd run.

"He saw the odd colored eyes, the same eyes of his attacker, in the face of the owner of the shop. He froze up and ran the second his friend got him away from the man. The boy's friend didn't understand why the boy was so frightened, and was going to ask, but the boy disappeared before he could…"

Naruto left off there, not knowing how to end his story, as it was still ongoing. He dared a quick glance at Sarutobi, not wanting to see pity, but seeing it anyway, along with generous helpings of sadness and anger. When the man spoke to him, turning to meet the blond's eyes, Naruto could see the sun glitter off the sheen of unshed tears.

"If he, or anyone else, touches you again, don't expect me not to do anything." Sarutobi let out a shaky breath. "I'm so sorry, Naruto"

The blond nodded slowly. "It's not your fault. The majority happened while you were away and after you were gone. You couldn't have done anything, and I don't plan on letting it happen a second time. This time around, I know how to get away without having to retaliate.

"But-!" Sarutobi began. He could tell that Naruto was only speaking with bluster, not realizing that he wouldn't be able to do as he was saying if he was still afraid of the man.

"I know! Stop dwelling on it." Naruto interrupted him. "It's already done and over, and it _won't_ happen again. He will die before he lays a hand on me again."

_**How will you kill him if you go into a panic every time you meet his eyes, Kit?**_ Kyuu said sadly. Naruto ignored her.

Sarutobi sighed, seeing that Naruto wanted no help. "What are you going to tell the Uchiha?"

Naruto, sensing that he was trying to change the subject, smiled gratefully. "I don't know. But I won't lie."

The old man nodded, deciding not to ask why Sasuke seemed so important to him. He settled on another question. "How did you become a hero?" He asked, referring to Naruto's story.

A sad look passed over Naruto's face. "One of my sensei's- and, no, it's not Kakashi- past students attacked Konoha looking for me. He had destroyed nearly the entire village by the time I got there. We fought and I won, but, before he died, he used the last of his chakra to bring back everybody he'd killed."

"Why-? A look of understanding passed in the Hokage's eyes. "You know, don't you? About the Kyuubi, I mean. That's why that man attacked the village, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Naruto had planned to tell him that he knew about Kyuu later, but by the way the conversation had gone, it would have been hard for Sarutobi _not_ to realize it.

Naruto looked to the sun, seeing that it was nearly five in the afternoon. He stood unsteadily, before gaining back his balance a moment later; he still wasn't used to the legs of a child, even if they were his legs.

"I've gotta go, Gramps." Naruto stuck out a hand to help the man next to him up. Sarutobi took the proffered hand and, once he was up, used the grip the pull the blond into firm hug

"I'm here for you, if you _ever_ need it. Just talk to me." He said. Naruto nodded and pulled away. Once out of the old man's grasp, he grinned.

"Why don't you come and watch our test with Kakashi-sensei? It's sure to be interesting."

"I might just do that. Now go home and be careful. I'll see you tomorrow."

Sarutobi disappeared in a poof of smoke, grinning like a devil. Naruto shook his head at the old man's theatrics, then started walking down the long stairs carved along the hokage monument, thinking of just how much training he'd have to do to get his chakra and body back up to par.

**xXx**

Sasuke watched as the hokage and Naruto parted, settling back on his haunches in the thick brush not four hundred feet away from where they'd been sitting. He hadn't been close enough to hear some of the conversation, but when Naruto had been telling his story, he'd channeled his chakra into his ears-something his brother had taught him when he was very young- so he could hear better. He couldn't keep up the trick for long lengths of time, but he had heard parts of what Naruto said, notably the part where Naruto had voiced that he would tell the truth if Sasuke questioned him.

And he _would_ question him.

Naruto was the first friend he'd made since…after he'd sworn revenge on Itachi. He'd be damned if he'd lose him. Anyone who'd approached him before seemed only to want to ask after the events of the night of the Uchiha Massacre. Either that, or they were girls, and sometimes the occasional boy, who drooled after him and his family name, asking him to go out with them. Sasuke had only _really _spoken to Naruto for the first time today. Sure, he'd seen the boy act like a dunce and sure, he'd said things in passing, but he'd never really interacted with him. The strange thing, getting back to the point, was that Naruto didn't seem to care about the name or his looks or the Massacre. He spoke to Sasuke because of Sasuke.

To keep a friendship, Sasuke thought, there had to be minimal secrecy between anyone involved. Now, while Sasuke seemed like he ignored everything around him, he was very perceptive. The parts he'd heard of Naruto's story, there had been quite a few things that caught his attention, first and foremost being that the story was obviously about the blond himself. Naruto had been raped. By Tobi. The thought disgusted him. He itched to kill the shop owner nearly as much as he wanted to stab Itachi with a kunai at least once, nice and deep. Another thing: the way Naruto had worded some things. He caught the words "The majority happened after you were gone" from his hiding place at one point. Sasuke figured Naruto could have been talking about the Hokage's occasional absences for missions and such, but he'd said it so sadly. As if the old man had been dead. And, at the end of his story, what was that bit about saving the village?

Yes. He'd most certainly be questioning Naruto. Preferably as soon as possible. Like tomorrow.

He could understand now why he'd run from Tobi's shop, and why he'd looked so upset when Tobi had approached him. Sasuke also realized in that moment that he'd possibly done a very terrible thing in threatening Tobi to get him to sell the clothes to Naruto. If Tobi was as bad as Naruto suggested…

Perhaps it would be a good thing to go question Naruto now.

Sasuke backed out from under the brush and hurriedly followed Naruto's path back down the monument.

**xXx**

Naruto whistled softly to himself. Altogether, disregarding the run-in with his former (although the word should be 'present' now that he was in this time again) tormenter, the day had gone very well and had passed far faster than he thought it should have. He'd seen Sasuke again, alive and well. He'd gone _shopping_ with him. Naruto chuckled to himself. He'd also learned a few things as well. Things that he hadn't realized the first time around. He'd have to start a journal, to compare and see how the differences started to add up.

One, Sakura was supremely irritating at this age.

Two, Sasuke really _did_ have emotions as a child. Naruto just hadn't seen them.

Three, It was fun to hang around with Sasuke. And:

Four, He liked not hiding behind a mask most of the time.

The list went on, filled with dozens of minor things and Naruto had also found, from having the panic attack earlier in the day, that he was really emotionally unstable at the moment, and he could count out all the causes, good and bad. He listed them mentally, figuring the worst thing to do was hide the events at the back of his mind. Attempting to do that was what had caused this mess. This list was fairly long as well.

One, Sasuke had died in front of him.

Two, he'd killed Madara bare-handed, a fist through the chest, which, even if you were a ninja, was a brutal thing to see and do.

Three, after trying to seal his emotions away, he'd woken to one of his most treasured and hated memories; Seeing Iruka kneeling above him with a shuriken in his back.

Four, he'd gotten revenge against Mizuki, again.

Five, the sight of his grandfather figure alive again and seeing _Sasuke_ again.

Six, hell_, He'd sent himself back in time!_

Naruto figured he had rather good reason to be mentally unstable at the moment, but it was bad timing to be crazy. The way Sasuke had handled Tobi, would make sure the man came after him. Sasuke hadn't meant for it to go down like that, but then, he hadn't known the whole story, had he? Naruto couldn't afford to freeze up or have a panic attack. Tobi wasn't likely to come over and 'hug him till it's over'.

And his physical abilities! He could walk straight, but run? Impossible. The fight with Mizuki had been a fluke. Maybe he'd been too hyped up on adrenaline to pay his body any attention, but he'd have to spend another fortnight getting used to the body before he could even _begin_ any real sparring or training. He wouldn't be able to escape, let alone defend himself from harm!

The only saving grace at this particular moment was that the sun was still up. If there was one constant to Tobi's beatings and…rapes, it was that he _never_ attacked him until it was dark. The man had always said something, that only the moon could ever be their witness, that the sun only ever ruined the fun. Naruto had always had the idea that the man had been a little… out there.

Not that that really helped. If anything, the man's paranoia against getting caught in the act, even of giving a threat against Naruto, had kept the man away from any trouble. As if the village would arrest him anyway. There were laws preventing ninja from harming villagers, and he'd been told multiple times, by his attackers, that the punishment for it was banishment. He couldn't protect himself at all. That's what he'd learned. Who wouldn't want the demon carrier to suffer for everything the demon forced upon him ever did?

Kyuu soothed his quickly rising anger. _**I'm sorry, Kit. I wish- Kit! Run!**_

Naruto was suddenly jerked roughly into an alleyway, having forgotten to watch the dark openings in his newfound security in the low-hanging sun. He was pulled back several feet before it even registered in his mind that he was in danger. He started kicking and even let out a hoarse yell, his voice breaking under the sudden panic, but in his childish body he couldn't do a thing. He was forcefully wrenched around and pushed against the stone wall that made up one side of the alleyway. He saw with despair that this was one of the places that Tobi had always pulled him to. The houses on either side of the walls of the alley had been abandoned for years, and the dilapidated houses around it were empty as well. This was the poorer side of the village

Pulling him out of his observation was the cold, heavy edge of a long knife. Immediately ceasing all struggles at the implied meaning of the appearance of the weapon, Naruto barely held in a whimper. Looking up into the face of his attacker, he saw that, for once, Tobi had decided to forgo the usual mask. He wore a lewd grin, but his eyes told Naruto exactly what was going to happen to him. And that he couldn't do a thing about it.

"Hello, little demon. I don't believe you said goodbye to me earlier today."


	7. Rescued!

**7**

Naruto's mind closed up. He hadn't expected the man to try again so soon. But then again, Tobi had been abusing him for years, even in this time period. What could he do? There was a knife at his throat. He couldn't move! His hands had been deftly tied behind him, to an iron ring that stuck out from the wall. He-!

_**Kit! Calm down. You are a ninja. Think about your situation. **_Kyuu said smoothly, letting only a hint of worry show through into her words.

_Easy for you to say! _He snapped, knowing it was low but unable to keep the words to himself. _This has never happened when you were bonded with me. You couldn't _feel_ it!_

_**I know, but I don't want it to happen to you again!**_ She replied. She would have spoken again, but was interrupted when Tobi spoke. Not that the disgusting man had even realized she'd been speaking to his victim.

"Did you think you could get away with it? With letting your new little friend stand up for you? You know he only did it because he doesn't know what you are, right? He doesn't know what a monster you are, that you are the shame of this village! I've heard your newest goal you've been spouting around the village: Hokage? Don't make me laugh! You will never be the Hokage. You're the little punching bag of the village, my own personal whore! I heard from a teacher that you only barely passed the academy exams. What was that? Your fourth try? You make me sick!"

Tobi went on along this same line of ranting before he realized that Naruto wasn't listening. "What have I told you, demon!" he hissed. He moved the hand that held the knife he held against Naruto's throat only to grasp the boy's neck tightly with his right hand. Naruto gagged. "You will listen when I am talking to you!" He punctuated this with a strong backhanded blow to his jaw. Naruto wavered in place slightly, but forced himself to stay upright. If there was anything Tobi hated more, it was when he had to pull the boy off the ground. It made no sense, as he abused the boy to the point that he fell to the ground more often than not.

Tobi slashed the knife in his left hand across Naruto's cheek, raising a thin line of blood. Then he ran the knife from the bottom of his new black shirt to the top, cutting the front of it neatly open. Naruto remembered the other reason he'd never bothered to get more expensive clothes in that moment. They were always ruined by the end of the week. Releasing Naruto's neck the man brought his fist to Naruto's stomach, punching him so hard his feet left the ground and he hit the wall behind him. He yelped as the iron ring his hands were tied to dug into the middle of his back.

Tobi showed the thin, carefully sharpened point of his knife to Naruto, holding it not centimeters from the gasping boy's right eye, reminding the boy of the position he'd held Mizuki in not two days earlier. Naruto froze all movements, even abandoning breathing, the moment he discerned the metallic glint in the darkness. Tobi chuckled, then, just as quickly as the new amusement had appeared, a familiar dark shadow passed his visage. He backhanded Naruto again, this time holding nothing back. Naruto's head jerked sharply to the side from the impact. He didn't manage to keep his feet this time, falling to his knees, only held completely off the ground by the cruel grip the rope held him in. he felt more than heard the pop of his left shoulder leaving the joint and he held in the whimper that rose to his lips.

He desperately reached for one of the kunai that hid in the sole of his shoes. He'd only just felt the handle of the small kunai when he was jerked by his dislocated shoulder to his feet, to meet the eyes of his captor. The man showed him a warped grin. It was then that Naruto realized the man was insane. This realization broke him out of his frightened trance.

_I can't…Kyuu I won't let him touch me again. I don't want to be sent from the village, but I will if I have to._

_**I understand, Kit. Do it.**_ Naruto nodded solemnly. He refused to bow down this time around. He desperately wanted to walk along with his friends and family again. He wanted to protect them like he couldn't the first time. But first and foremost came himself. Six years ago, he'd promised himself he would always look out for himself; not be stupid and selfless and suffer for things that weren't his fault. That had been the first time he'd beaten this very same man back. Of course, he hadn't killed him, but that was because he'd wanted to be Hokage. He'd wanted to kill him, believe it, but he'd been lucky the man hadn't reported him.

Naruto focused his chakra into his hands. He made the hand sign easily, as his arms had been tied together at the elbows. For a moment, Naruto reflected on how stupid the man had been not to bind his hands separately, but then he realized that the man thought he was a rookie ninja and that he couldn't harm any villagers. Well, the second was true…the first? Not so much.

He released the chakra in his hands, causing the rope to burn away quickly. Tobi stood in front of the boy, frozen in shock at the sudden burst of light the jutsu caused. Naruto was only glad that his young chakra system could handle the moderately hard jutsu. Seconds later, though, Tobi jolted into movement. He slashed his knife at his chest, foolishly assuming that he would still get his playtime, and not going for a kill mark.

Moving quickly, Naruto ducked under the slash and grabbed a kunai from the pouch at his leg. Swinging upwards with his fist, he punched the wrist that was holding the knife, causing Tobi to drop the blade into Naruto waiting hand. The blond threw the blade away, further into the now dark alley. He held his own kunai to his tormenter's throat. Knowing the danger, Tobi held still, but Naruto missed the man's right hand slipping under his shirt towards his belt in his fury at the man, which was quickly growing to overpower the adrenaline that pounded through his veins now that the switch in control had been made.

"If you know what is good for you, you will never touch me again. If you do, don't think I won't kill you without a moment's hesitation. The only, and I mean _only_, reason I haven't is because I have things I need to do and I can't be labeled as a traitor yet. You are a vile creature and don't deserve to live!" Tobi glared at him for another minute before Naruto saw the slight movement of the man's jaw. For a second, He thought that Tobi intended to speak, but when he opened him mouth, Tobi spat in his face.

In the moment the distraction lent, Tobi whipped another knife from his belt. He slashed it across Naruto's dislocated arm, immediately causing a deep flow of blood to begin to run from it. Naruto recovered quickly, however, stepping back and ducking under the man's next swing, not bothering to disarm the man, aiming for that sweet spot that would stop the monster from breathing ever again. He _had_ warned the man, after all. He watched as if in slow motion as his kunai came ten inches of the man's throat. Eight inches. Five. Three…

The tip of his blade was stopped a hair's breadth away from piercing Tobi's throat. Naruto looked, almost stupidly, at his arm, seeing the hand that encircled his wrist gently keeping his death blow at bay. He followed from the hand, up the arm, and, finally, to the face of the one who stopped him. In the shadows of the alley, it took him a second, but Naruto recognized the figure to be his sensei. Not Kakashi, no. It was his other sensei. One of the three Sannin. The Toad Sage. Who had been a dead man up until two days ago.

Jiraiya smiled reassuredly at the blond, unknowing of the true relationship between them. Using his grip on Naruto's wrist, he maneuvered him to stand behind him and let go of his wrist. Naruto obediently stood down, sheathing his blade in his weapons pouch. From this perspective, Naruto could see the tight grip he held on Tobi's arm. The hand that held the knife was shaking from the effort of keeping it in hand. Naruto could see that Jiraiya was pressing his fingers into the muscles and tendons of the muscular arm and, as the white haired sannin clenched his grip harder around the man's arm, Tobi finally dropped the knife. Naruto smirked, which set Tobi off.

"Who are you? I demand to know why you have interfered! He just attacked me! He broke the law!" He said, more like shouted. His face was red, and slowly becoming a nice shade of purple. Looking around him, Naruto suddenly noted the presence of a second person, who, at the end of the alley, held a common street torch, lighting up the dark space. There was another figure next to them, but he couldn't see who they were past the bright light of the torch. At the sound of his sensei's voice, Naruto turned back to the main entertainment of the area.

Oh, don't get him wrong, sure he was almost just violated, but, think about it. He just _almost_ _killed_ the person who had tormented him for most of two decades and his _dead_ sensei had saved him. No, he was over the main problem already.

"I don't really think it matters who I am. I just saved your ass from getting killed!" Ah, Jiraiya and his eloquent way of wording. "Now, kid, tell me what just happened."

At being addressed, Naruto started, but he grudgingly began to tell what had happened, summarizing what had gone on in the last twenty minutes or so.

"I was on my way home when this man attacked me again-"

"Wait! Again?" came a voice from behind him. He started again. He recognized the voice, but, why would they be here…together. He decided he would figure it out once they dealt with Tobi.

"Yes." He could see Jiraiya raise his eye at the nonchalance and sophisticated tone of his voice. Oops. He kept forgetting he was a kid. "I'm sure he was going to kill me this time, whether meaning to or not, which was why I decided to defend myself. You should have been close enough to hear my warning. I had reason in attacking. I would rather be alive and a traitor than dead."

Jiraiya nodded. "Understandable." He directed his next words at the man. "You realize that there are laws preventing villagers from harming ninja using the oath that they have taken against harming the villagers against them, don't you." He grinned. "They are fully allowed to defend themselves in such cases that the villager is in the wrong."

Naruto drew in a quick breath. He had never heard of this law. Granted, it made sense now that he thought about it, but still. He'd grown up, hearing that there was no such thing from the very people who had beaten him. Why should he think otherwise? He nearly seethed in anger. He'd taken all the beatings for nothing. He wouldn't have been named a traitor for defending himself against a single one of them.

The other voice spoke up reminding him of where he was and what was going on. "From what I see, you are fully in the wrong, Mr…"

As Tobi didn't deign to answer, just scowling at Jiraiya and the person speaking to him from the shadows. Naruto decided to answer for him.

"Miyazawa. His name is Tobi Miyazawa."

Jiraiya gave him a curious glance, then nodded. He pushed Naruto gently towards the other figure, who put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I'm gonna take him to Sarutobi. We'll have him out of your hair in no time!" He grinned at the boy.

Naruto shook his head and stepped forward, shaking off the hand, although it had felt good for the contact. "I will go with you. I spoke with the third Hokage not long ago about this problem, and he'll want to know where I stand on it. I'm sure he will want to know how I am as well." He nodded his head at the figure behind him. "I'm sure she can tend to my injuries there as well." Naruto almost laughed at the expression of confusion on his teacher's face at that moment. "I need to talk to you three as well. Can you go ahead to his office? I need to do something. Privately." He added when they showed no signs of moving. To say he was amused when Jiraiya nodded and they left within the next minute (with Tobi screaming all the way, of course), was an understatement.

Once the alley was empty of all but him and a few piles of trash, Naruto walked out of it. He was beginning to get dizzy, but he easily hid that and walked smoothly despite the still twinging blows to his belly and back. He looked around. Seeing nothing, Naruto smiled. He knew he'd just felt Sasuke's chakra.

**xXx**

He sat back easily in his chair and looked out the large window to the left of his desk and sighed. It had been almost an hour since he'd left Naruto. It was nearly dark now and he wondered if the blond had made it home safely yet. He'd finished all his paperwork for the day and was only waiting for an important visit from his old students. Well, two of them, at least. He sighed.

The next moment, he had to keep himself from falling out of his chair at the sudden appearance of Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune, and a familiar man, probably a villager, who was being held firmly by Jiraiya and was shouting obscenities at the man. He stood up calmly, at least appearance-wise. Could they never walk through the door?

"What is the meaning of this?" Sarutobi asked firmly.

Jiraiya looked up apologetically, before knocking the man out and dropping him to the floor.

"Sorry, Gramps…"

"Why must everyone call me that?" He retorted irritably.

"Because we love you?" a tired voice from behind him sounded. He jerked around to pinpoint the source seeing none other than Naruto. However, before he could say anything about the lack of the use of doors, Naruto jumped from the windowsill to the floor and straightened fully, revealing the extent of his injuries to those in the room.

Naruto's left arm was completely drenched in blood and hung limply in the cradle of his other arm. His left cheek was in much the same condition, but the cut had already closed, leaving only the thin layer of dried blood. Nothing else was visible, but everyone in the room could see a twelve year old boy shouldn't have been able to stand in his condition.

Tsunade quickly went to his side and pulled him down into the couch that was against the wall on the right side of the room. Before she could start running diagnostic jutsu, however, Naruto listed the injuries off.

"Dislocated left shoulder, blood loss, two cracked ribs, one broken. No internal bleeding. Kyuu's closing up the rest of them now. You'll have to help her with the ribs, though." Before Tsunade could say a word, Naruto reached up with his right hand, grasped his shoulder, and rammed it back into place. All without as much as a whimper. Then the gash on his arm began steaming and healing right in front of their eyes.

There was silence in the office. Then…

"I thought it was him, Tsunade. It's Naruto!" Jiraiya cheered.

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up now." She shook her head and moved over Naruto so she could get to his chest. A green glow shone for a few minutes, and then, when she backed away, she wiped a bit of sweat her forehead. "They're healed, but you need to be careful..."

Naruto waved a hand to dismiss her usual speech about being easy on his injuries. He already had it memorized. "They will be back to regular strength in the morning. Like I said, Kyuu's working on it. But I was having trouble breathing, so I needed a quick fix."

"You know you're not helping their shock, Naruto. You obviously know them. Explain." Sarutobi gave him a long suffering look. Naruto grinned back at him.

"But it's fun to see all these people again." Seeing as how Sarutobi and Jiraiya had been dead in his time, it was more than nice to see them again. "Ah, well." He fixed Jiraiya and Tsunade with a piercing look. He sighed and started on revealing his identity to them.

"What do you see when you look at me?" He asked.

The two of them exchanged puzzled looks, but Jiraiya answered anyway.

"I see a smartass eleven or twelve year old little genin who's bloodied and beaten up. Why?"

Naruto smirked. "I'm a twenty-one year old seals-master, an ex-anbu captain, the nine-tailed fox container, and, finally, I was the only living user of the Toad Sage Techniques. Now I'm one of two." Jiraiya's eyes widened. "Oh, and let's not forget that you're my sensei."

Sarutobi looked like he couldn't figure out whether to laugh at his students' shock or stare in surprise at the list of titles Naruto had just called out. There was another lull of shock induced silence, then laughing broke out. Of course, it was Jiraiya.

"Stop telling lies, kid! Toad Sage Tech! Ha!" Naruto smiled grimly.

_Kyuu, I think I've got enough for a small demonstration, haven't I? Think my body can handle it? He's got to see it to believe it, I think._

_**Yes, but only a little.**_

_Right._

A split second later, he was behind Jiraiya (who'd been on the complete other side of the room, by the way) with his hand against the back of the man's neck. Jiraiya froze, then turned slowly to see Naruto with dark bags around the eyes. A clear sign of Sage Tech. Even Sarutobi was looking on amazedly.

"Who are you?" Tsunade asked, even though she'd already heard the answer to the question. He'd learned by now that it was just a reflexive question for people to use when they were shocked speechless. At least most of the time.

He turned and smiled at her.

"Uzumaki Naruto."


	8. Consequences

**8**

"He's telling the truth, Jiraiya. There is no way he could be lying with half the things he's told me, Kakashi, and Iruka." Naruto had just gone over the basic story of his presence in this time. Sarutobi turned his attention to Naruto, completely disregarding the looks of shock and confusion from both Jiraiya and Tsunade. Shizune was silent, just watching the going ons. Naruto walked back to sit on the couch. "When were you planning on telling me that Jiraiya was your sensei?"

"When I met him again." The blond answered immediately. "Unfortunately, this is not the situation I would have liked to see him in. As far as I knew, Jiraiya-sensei was still travelling at this point in time. I didn't expect to see him for another two months at least, during the chuunin exams."

"Hey, hey! Stop talking like I'm not here, will you?" Jiraiya said loudly. "If what you said is true, how did you get here?"

"Due to…certain circumstances, I decided to use a seal of my own making on myself. I wrote out all the symbols correctly, however, I neglected to evaluate a key part of the seal in my… distracted… state and the seal apparently became a method of time travel, as I ended up in this time when I activated the seal."

"What were you using the seal for?" Tsunade, ever the vigilant one, asked quietly, picking up on his avoidance of the subject in his explanation. Naruto looked her in her eyes with a cool expression.

"You don't need to know that."

"Hey now! I think we have a right to know! Plus, I'm your sensei, right? You should tell me at least." Jiraiya argued. Naruto picked up on the childish tone that surfaced whenever his sensei was on the losing side of an argument. He would have smiled if not for the subject the argument was on.

"As a matter of fact, you have absolutely _no_ right to know. I grant that you are my sensei in this time as well as the other, however, in _my_ time, you have been dead almost five years. You'll have to forgive me if it takes a while to regain the sense of camaraderie we had before you were killed, sensei.

There was silence. The slight pout that had adorned his sensei's face had disappeared and Sarutobi's expression was sorrowful. Tsunade and Shizune were just standing there, trying to wrap their minds around everything they'd been given. Then, hesitantly, Shizune spoke.

"If…if what you say is true…then what are you planning on doing now?"

"I plan to live my life again." Naruto said simply. He was growing tired. The chakra he used, the blood loss and injuries. Adding those to the surprise meeting with Tsunade, Shizune, and Jiraiya, not to mention Tobi's reappearance… It was amazing that he was still standing. He was pretty sure Kyuu had something to do with it.

_**You're right. I'm making your body stay on its adrenaline high, if a little less so than before. You'll be out like a rock when you go to sleep, so make sure you've got everything you need to do taken care of.**_

At that, Kyuu went back to focusing on her task of healing his injuries. Naruto sent her a feeling of appreciation, then turned his focus outward. It seemed that their bonding had survived the time-travel intact, if the rate she was going at was any indicator.

"So…what? You plan to just stay here and do the same thing as the first time? You'll let all you've said happen again?" Jiraiya said, seemingly speaking without thinking, because, really, would _anyone_ do that?

To Naruto, what he was going to try to do was obvious and Jiraiya was asking him the stupidest question he could have asked in the situation, and in his tired mind, his temper got the best of him. He snarled at Jiraiya. He noticed idly that Jiraiya's face paled. Kyuu's chakra must have been leaking through.

"Are you a fool? _Why_ would I sit around and let the people I care about die when I can do something about it? Tell me. If you knew a war was going to break out five years from now, what would you do?" Jiraiya didn't say a word, knowing Naruto wasn't looking for an answer. "Tell me. If you knew that Konoha would be nearly leveled in an attack by an enemy attack, what would you do?" Sometime during his rant, Naruto reigned in his temper a bit, but, seeing that it was proving his conviction towards his goals, he continued. "If the target of the attack was you, and your friends and teachers died one by one protecting your whereabouts, would you just sit back until they were _all_ dead? _If you knew that you could stop it all from ever happening! What. Would. You. Do!"_

Jiraiya's mouth opened and closed many times before he finally decided that saying nothing would be better. Sarutobi silently got up from his chair, rounded his desk, and pulled Naruto into his arms. Naruto shook his head and pulled back. "Thank you, Gramps, but I'm fine."

"I don't believe you."

"Okay, fine. So I'm not fine. I'm working on it."

"Kakashi told me you had a panic attack. He said that something the Uchiha said triggered it."

Naruto smirked grimly. He shouldn't be surprised that Kakashi had caught that. It had been rather obvious to anyone who had been paying attention.

"Yeah…that's not something I want anyone to know about right now…"

Sarutobi nodded, seemingly having expected that answer from him.

"So we're supposed to trust our lives to you. Without you telling us anything." The words came

from Tsunade who was looking at him stonily. Naruto met her gaze easily and smiled at her. A gentle, tired smile that made her gasp.

"I will tell you what is going on, when I get a grasp on everything. I have only been back here for two days, after all. I need to process all of this." His eyes closed for a second. "How would you deal with going back in time nine years and seeing three people who had been important to you who were supposed to be dead, learning that no one else who had died was dead yet, and being back in a twelve year-olds body? Really, I am glad that they are alive, but it's hard to grasp. I'm amazed that I'm taking it so well as it is. Tobi over there didn't really help my situation."

The other four in the room jumped. They had completely forgotten about the man. Sarutobi was the first to get around his embarrassment at the fact, his ire quickly surfacing.

"Is this the one you were talking about, Naruto? The shopkeeper?"

Naruto paused for a second, remembering his earlier hesitations at revealing the identity of his tormentor. Then he remembered his true age. He had been a ninja that ranked among the most powerful in the world. Soon, no one would be able to mess with him. Especially not any of the villagers. He nodded at himself internally.

"Yes." He hesitated. "May _I _wake him? I know you'll want to talk to him."

Sarutobi gave him a small smile and then gave a wide gesture towards the shopkeeper in welcome. Naruto smirked. He stood from the couch and walked past the four older ninja straight to the still form of Tobi. Then, he drew back his foot and kicked, hard. At the whimper he heard when Tobi rolled back a few paces to hit the wall, Naruto assumed the man was awake and crouched next to Tobi, leaning over him, although careful not to get too close.

"Your life is over. You don't have to thank me." He whispered. He saw the man freeze and moved back before Tobi could try to grab at him. A second later, Tobi was struggling to his feet, using the wall as a prop.

"Miyazawa, Tobi." Jiraiya started. "I brought you here so that the Third Hokage could judge your actions against Naruto not an hour ago. As it appears that he is already aware of the situation, you won't have to wait long."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at hearing his sensei talk in such an official way, but quickly switched his attentions to Sarutobi, who was now speaking Tobi.

"Aa. That's correct. I've already heard Naruto's explanation. I want to hear why you've tormented him for five years."

"Six, actually." Naruto interjected quietly. Sarutobi nodded after glancing at him. Tobi was being pinned with five glares, and Naruto could tell that Tobi knew every single one of them was against him. He knew he had finally run out of luck. But, again, after he caught the man's eyes, Naruto knew the man had gone mad. Tobi jumped at him.

A second later, there were three kunai pointing at his neck with Naruto's hand around his windpipe keeping him from moving into them. The first clone leaned forward and grinned, whispering straight into the man's right ear. "You've just signed your warrant."

The second whispered into his left. "You'll rot in prison."

The third talked a little louder, letting his kunai cut into the man's throat a little. "You'll pay back the suffering you gave me in full."

The main Naruto's expression was calm. He looked into Tobi's eyes and let his own morph into animal-like slits. "I hope prison fucks with your mind. I hope they rape you and beat you until you're nothing more than a shell of a person. You picked the wrong person to mess with. I give no mercy. Not anymore. I hope the Hokage feels the same." He sneered.

At the third clone's statement, Tobi had gone pale, realizing he wasn't going to get out of this, but at the original's, he collapsed, landing on his knees, holding his head between his hands, mumbling to himself. Naruto smirked, dissipating his clones and backing away to turn back to the other occupants of the room.

Sarutobi and Jiraiya both wore twin looks. Each had an eyebrow pulled up in question. Tsunade looked amazed, probably because he shouldn't have had any chakra left to use any techniques at all. Shizune just held onto Ton-Ton with her eyes fixed on Tobi's now rocking body.

"Sorry, I must have forgotten to mention that I had just recently become the head of the interrogation squad in my own time. Some people have problems looking into my eyes when I'm angry."

"That's an understatement." Jiraiya said under his breath, but loud enough to be heard. Naruto grinned. Then he turned to the most senior in the room.

"Gramps, I'm sorry, but could we get this over with? I have to get some sleep and be at the practice field by nine tomorrow."

Sarutobi stared at him for a moment, amazed at his nonchalance at the situation, but nodded nonetheless.

"Mr. Miyazawa. You have been accused of multiple counts of physical assault, mental assault, rape, and attempted murder. Have you anything to say for yourself. Mr. Miyazawa?"

At hearing his name again, Tobi looked up, a twinge of sanity in his gaze. He opened his mouth, only to condemn himself further. "He is a monster. He doesn't deserve to be treated like a human being. He should be used and thrown away. He can't be allowed to live. He'll kill us all-"

"You-" Jiraiya started. Naruto held up a hand, stopping the man's speech. He leaned down again, taking the man's chin in his hand, forcing him to look at him. Tobi didn't struggle and met his eyes again.

"I may be a monster, but you're something worse. You're less than the dirt this monster walks on. But, think. If I do kill you all, whose fault would that be?" Naruto grinned, an odd expression that refused to let anyone tell what he was truly feeling. His eyes were a mixture of many feelings.

As he walked towards the door, Naruto heard with satisfaction the verdict Tobi had earned himself.

"Miyazawa, Tobi. You are hereby sentenced to sixty years in Konoha's maximum security prison with no parole. Perhaps you will learn to respect the ninja around you when they are the ones granting you the privilege of living. My ANBU captain will escort you. And don't worry about your shop. The ownership will revert to Uzumaki Naruto as repayment for all the clothes of his that you have ruined."

Apparently Sarutobi had caught on to the reason for his usual orange attire. Well, that solved his problem of not having enough clothing.

**xXx**

He was extremely sore the next morning. He'd gone to bed the moment he'd gotten out of the shower, not bothering to put on more than a pair of boxers and slipping under the old quilt he'd gotten from the owners of Ichiraku Ramen, Teuchi and Ayame, on his birthday when he was seven.

He was awake at five o'clock and rose to get himself ready for the day. He looked at himself in the mirror of the bathroom and saw large bruises over his ribs, but all the cuts were gone. He felt along his back, hoping he would find it smooth as well, but he could feel the four slightly raised cuts he'd discovered from the night before last.

_**It seems that I can only heal the injuries sustained after we came back. I'll be able to take care of your bruises in a little while, but I don't want to overload your body with my chakra. We may still be bonded, but I don't want to take any risks.**_ Kyuu said in answer to the silent question.

_That's fine. At least the cuts are closed._

He continued on his morning routine, which ended with a bowl of cereal and an apple; there wasn't any point in making himself any weaker than he already was for Kakashi's test. He cleaned up the dishes he'd left in the sink the previous day, then went back to his room to change after embarrassedly realizing that he was still only in his boxers. You'd think he'd have noticed the draft.

From the clothes he'd gotten yesterday, he pulled out an outfit of khaki pants and the shirt that Naruto thought was much the same color as Kyuu's eyes. He put his kunai in the weapons pouch next to the shuriken, then pulled on his shoes. A few minutes later, he was out the door and on his way to the practice field. He ignored all the glares directed his way, too excited about Kakashi's test to care. It was exactly six thirty when they arrived on the field.

_Well, we have another two and a half hours. Shall we train? I don't think I'll be lucky enough to be able to rely on adrenaline in even a spar with Kakashi-sensei. I need to get my reflexes back and I don't even want to think about my chakra reserves at the moment._

_**Do you want me to help?**_

_Sure._

Naruto then summoned a clone. The only differences were the red hair and angular features the clone sported. Well, that and the fact that Kyuu had transferred some of her will into the clone. Here was a real sparring partner. Regular clones couldn't compare. You couldn't predict this one's moves.

The clone grinned, its fox-like features prominent in its excitement. Naruto grinned back.

"**Shall we play?**" it said.

"Let's."

They both darted forward at the same time, kunai appearing out of nowhere. The first few clashes were clumsy, but soon they were grappling and kicking and punching and throwing kunai and shuriken at each other as if it was only normal for a twenty-one year old to be fighting in a child's body. Naruto wasn't used to his body, but he could at least make advantage of his movements when he stumbled in a fight. They soon sped up the pace. Naruto and Kyuu had both agreed to no jutsu for the moment, but, for learning the true condition of his muscles, that was for the better. Almost half the taijutsu techniques that Naruto knew would be unusable until he could train his body to move more fluidly and quickly.

As it was, Kyuu had an unfair advantage in their spar. She had a link to the clone through her will and could control its movements. This meant that whenever Naruto thought of a strategy, Kyuu sent that information to the clone, which then used it against Naruto's strategy. Naruto had never managed to win in a spar against this type of clone.

Two hours later found Naruto lying out on the ground at the base of a tree, dozing slightly. He roused when Sasuke's chakra met his senses. When the Uchiha walked around the tree, Naruto sat up and slid back to lean against the tree.

"I'm sorry for leaving you like that yesterday." He said as the black-haired boy sat down.

"Why?" was all Sasuke said.

"You already know, don't you? You were listening to me talk to Gramps." Naruto said with a slight grin in his voice. Sasuke's face grew red.

"You knew?" Naruto chuckled.

"I do now." Sasuke flushed more at the realization that Naruto had tricked him into revealing that he'd been eavesdropping on his and the Hokage's conversation. "I sensed your chakra after Tobi attacked me again. I figured the only way you would have been following me would be if you'd been listening. Otherwise you would've come up to me and asked what happened."

"I was trying to find you before _Tobi_ did, because I thought he might come after you again, after what I said to him." Sasuke started. "When I did find you, those three people were already there, and I heard you talking like you knew them. Plus, that man stopped Tobi from hurting you, so…"

Naruto inwardly snorted. _More like stopped me from hurting Tobi. He must not have seen that part. Good. He doesn't need to know anything else right now._

"Something like that…" Sasuke frowned at that. "Those three were two of the Sannin, Jiraiya and Tsunade, and Tsunade's apprentice, Shizune."

Sasuke's eyes widened even more, although if he had been anyone else, Naruto wouldn't have caught it. "Okay…What happened to Tobi?" He asked curiously. "And, are you alright?"

Now it was time for Naruto's eyes to widen. He must have made a really good impression on Sasuke for the boy to show open concern for him. He smirked as he answered Sasuke's questions. "Tobi's been sentenced to Konoha's maximum security prison for sixty years. I'm fine, just a few scratches."

_**Liar. **_Kyuu said.

_What? It's true…now._

_**Liar.**_

_Whatever._

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You were bleeding when I saw you."

"How could you see that? It was…Oh." Naruto pouted for a second when he realized that Sasuke had used his own word-trap against him. Sasuke smirked, his pride repaired. In Naruto's head, Kyuu stuck her tongue out at him, cackling all the while.

"Where were you hurt?"

"Just a bunch of cuts and a dislocated shoulder…some messed up ribs, too." He added the last part more quietly. "Tsunade healed me."

He looked up at a dark growl. Sasuke was glaring at a blade of grass so hard that Naruto wouldn't have been surprised if it burst into flame at any moment. "Damn it. I shouldn't have said anything. I just made it worse."

Naruto touched Sasuke's shoulder tentatively. "You didn't know. Plus, your actions lead to my worst abuser being sent to prison for basically the rest of his life. If anything, I'm grateful to you."

Sasuke looked up at Naruto and they stared at each other for a long moment. Then Sasuke nodded his head and sat back against the tree, their shoulders nearly touching. They sat in silence for a long while, but, of course, that couldn't last long.

"Sasuke~!" came the familiar high pitched voice from behind them. They both groaned.


	9. Tests and Missions

**9**

Now, Sakura might have matured a little from the put-down Naruto had given her yesterday back in the classroom, but she hadn't given up on Sasuke yet. The girl was more blatant about it than ever, which was saying something. After two minutes of obvious staring and her trying to engage Sasuke in a somewhat (at least more than usual) intelligent conversation, which didn't work, by the way, and of Naruto and Sasuke trying to keep their hands away from anything on their person that was pointy and sharp (hard to do when you're a ninja), Naruto decided enough was enough. He'd needed to talk to the two of them today anyway.

"Hey, guys?" Amazingly, their attentions were immediately given. "Before Kakashi-sensei shows up, I wanted to tell you something." He double checked the area just to make sure the man wasn't hiding like he usually did. "I heard from someone that the test he's gonna give us has to do with teamwork. Can you handle working together?" Naruto asked, not really caring of their answer, but knowing it would help everything move more smoothly.

Surprisingly, Sasuke was the first to answer, seemingly not even having to think on his decision. "Yeah. Kakashi is a Jounin, after all. He's probably gonna have us try and beat him in a fight or something."

_Close, but not quite._ Naruto thought. He was only glad that Sasuke had not acted as his old arrogant self. He glanced at Sakura, who was looking between the two suspiciously. Then, after a moment, she, too, agreed.

"Fine."

Then, Kakashi arrived. He poof-ed into a tree not too far away from the three of them. Naruto nodded at the other two in acknowledgment of their decisions and settled down to wait. It would probably be another good hour before Kakashi decided to join them.

**xXx**

Kakashi tapped a small clock that lay on a small stump a few feet away from them. When he turned back to face them, he held up two small silver bells.

"Your task is to steal these two bells from me. You have until noon. If you do not get a bell, you will go back to the academy." He said simply.

"What? But there's only two bells. What would the third person do?" Sakura asked.

"Like I said, anyone who doesn't have one by the time the exercise is over will be sent back to ninja school. Now, ready? Set. GO!" Sasuke and Sakura immediately moved to hid in the surrounding forest. Kakashi looked around.

"What? You aren't going to go hide?" He asked Naruto.

"What use is hiding when you can find me?"

"Well, that's a good point."

"I always did prefer the direct approach anyways." Naruto grinned as he shook out his limbs, stretching the already warmed up muscles

"Are you sure you're up to it?" Kakashi asked, somewhat more quietly as he was sure his other two students weren't supposed to know much about what happened. "The Hokage told me what happened last night."

"I'm fine." With that, Naruto shot forward.

Funnily enough, Kakashi's book was nowhere in sight. Naruto swiftly threw his right fist at Kakashi's face, towards his blind side. The silver-haired man dodged back and grabbed Naruto's hand, bringing his knee up towards the boy's stomach. Naruto put his other hand on Kakashi's knee and used it as leverage to jump over the appendage, using his small stature to his advantage and pulling Kakashi's hand along with him to put the man off balance.

Kakashi released Naruto's hand and brought his other leg forward into a low kick that Naruto also avoided. In turn, the blond gave his own kick at the back at Kakashi's head. The man jumped forward to avoid it as well, and they stood in a stand-off. Then, all of a sudden, blurs of yellow, pink, and black jumped from the woods at Kakashi's back. Sasuke and Naruto gripped Kakashi's arms, and Sakura and another Naruto clone each grabbed a hold of Kakashi's legs. The original Naruto rushed forward, taking the chance his clones and teammates had seized for him. A moment later, just as Naruto touched the bells, he heard a sizzling sound.

"Back!" He ordered.

Sasuke and Sakura both jumped back at the order, and just in time. Kakashi's clone blew up. The three of them all retreated back into the woods, realizing that Kakashi was nowhere in sight. Naruto jumped high into the branches of a tree that he knew a certain dark-haired Uchiha to lurk in. Sasuke turned his head to look at him, when he silently landed next to him.

"Impressive." He said quietly.

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto grinned. 'Sasuke's' eyes opened a little wider and he jumped back to avoid a punch Naruto threw at his abdomen. Then he grinned as well.

"How did you figure it out?" Kakashi asked as he released the Henge.

"One of my clones just canceled its summoning. It was with Sasuke." Naruto said. Then, he charged Kakashi again.

They moved back and forth for a while, each gaining the upper hand for a while (even though it was obvious that Kakashi was going easy on him),then the odds leaning towards the other, and then Naruto froze. And grinned again.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei. I bet you don't know where Sasuke and Sakura are right now."

"What are you talking about Naruto-kun?" Kakashi asked, taking the bait.

"I'm here." A voice called. He turned to see Sasuke step out of the trees.

"No, I'm here." Said another Sasuke coming into view from behind them.

"Sasuke, I think you're confusing him." Said Sakura from yet another angle.

"Well, of course he is. I can't tell the difference between us either." Said Sakura, from her position next to Naruto. Like that, another twelve Sasukes and Sakuras stepped from the trees along with ten more Narutos.

"You know this won't make much of a difference, Naruto. Just because I don't know which are the real ones, doesn't mean that I can't defend myself from them." Kakashi said.

"Right. You keep telling yourself that. Some of us are a bit more solid than others." Naruto smirked. They all pulled out kunai. Then they attacked. Kakashi was surrounded. Kicks and punches and narrowly avoided blades flashed by his face and he blocked and dodged. Then there were ropes flying around him, catching his arms first, keeping him from using a replacement jutsu and slowing up his movements.

Sakura, or at least one of the clones that looked like her, grabbed his arms, keeping his arms back behind his back with the help of the ropes, allowing one of the Sasukes to land a punch to his gut. Regardless of the fact that Sasuke was twelve years old, he still punched hard. Kakashi lost his breath for a moment and tried to jerk his hands away from his bindings. That was when it happened. Naruto stole the bells.

Everything froze for a millisecond, then there was a large pop as his clones disappeared, leaving the original Naruto, who was holding the bells, Sakura, who was still holding Kakashi's arms, and the Sasuke who had punched the older man in the gut.

The three of them grinned. Kakashi looked shocked.

"Hah! We did it!" Sakura yelled, but then she quieted down when she remembered the rules of the test. Before she could even turn towards Naruto, the blond tossed the bells to Sasuke, who caught them and looked at him, puzzled.

"You guys can have them. You were the ones who held him back so I could get the bells, anyways."

"No." The two of them turned to look at Sakura, who had let go of their sensei's arms. "No, it was you who did most of the work. You should get to graduate, too. If you don't get to stay a genin, then I'm going back to the academy as well." To say that he was shocked was an understatement. Sasuke shook off his surprise and nodded, agreeing with Sakura.

"Same with me."

There was a long silence, then…

"Well then. You guys all pass!" Kakashi said, suddenly free of the ropes.

"Huh?" Sasuke and Sakura said at the same time. Naruto just smiled, touched by the sentiment that his friends would have stayed back with him in the academy. He'd already known it would end up like this.

"There is one rule you absolutely must know if you live in the shinobi world." Kakashi continued, lifting his finger in his lecture mode. "In a ninja's world, those who violate the rules and fail to follow orders are lower than garbage. But those who do not care for and support their fellows are even lower than that! By refusing to accept the bells from Naruto, you have demonstrated that. And Naruto's offer in the first place shows great value for the lives and happiness of his comrades. So…You pass~!" Kakashi said, his visible eye closing in an arch, the only way for them to tell that he was smiling.

"Yay!" Sakura jumped up and down, and Sasuke allowed a small smile.

"Now, you guys can go home and get some rest. Be glad to know that you are the very first team to pass my test. Team Seven's duties will commence tomorrow. You are now officially genin!"

The team all left from there, Naruto soon after disappearing back to his house after splitting up from Sasuke and Sakura.

_Well, that's over._

_**It turned out different this time.**_

_You were able to see that last time?_ Naruto flushed remembering how foolish he'd acted when they'd first taken Kakashi's test.

_**Yes, the only difference was that I couldn't interact a lot with you back then. It was only after the incident in the Wave Country that I could speak to you at will, remember?**_

_Yeah. Hey, you up for some more training later today? I still need to do some chakra training, too. I can't believe I was even able to hold that many clones today, and it used almost all my reserves up._

_**I've got the perfect training schedule for you.**_

Naruto groaned aloud. _In other words, it's probably gonna kill me?_

_**Now, now. Don't have so little faith in me. After all, isn't there a human saying that goes like: 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger'?**_

_Slaver._

Kyuubi just laughed.

**xXx**

Over the next month, they went on the same missions that they had had when Naruto had first become a genin. Catching annoying cats, painting fences, weeding gardens, playing delivery ninja, and whatever else needed doing around the village. Then came the fated day, almost a month and a half after the test of Kakashi's, just after they had caught that rich lady's cat again, they were in the Hokage's office.

Naruto knew that this was his one chance at getting the mission to the wave country, so he set his face to pleading, and subtly guided the hokage's decision by meeting the man's eyes and then directing his eyes to an open mission folder on his desk. The old man quickly took the hint and put his hand on the folder Naruto had looked at, silently asking if that was the one the blond had been pointing out. Naruto nodded just slightly.

"Gramps, we need a harder mission. We've completed all these other ones pretty easily, we need a challenge." He asked in a stubborn voice. Thankfully, Sakura took over from there.

"Yeah! I'm tired of all these little kiddy missions!"

"Sakura, enough. The Hokage knows what missions he should send us on." Kakashi said, just as Naruto could see Iruka itching to say the same.

"No, it's fine. They're right. They've completed enough D rank missions to qualify for a C rank, I think." Sarutobi said, shaking his head as if his hand were being forced. He was pretty convincing. The other three on the team looked like they hadn't thought the old man would give in. "I have a C rank escort mission you can do. It'll take you to the Land of Waves while you're guarding a bridge builder on his way there… Please invite him in, Iruka." He finished. Iruka, who had been sitting to his right, got up to open the door.

A middle-aged looking man holding a bottle of liquor walked in, leaning against the door-frame.

"What's going on here? They look like a bunch of wet-nosed brats. Especially…the midget. He's got the face of an imbecile. It's a joke, right? You kid's aren't really ninja, are you?"

Instead of blowing up the last time Tazuna had insulted him, Naruto smirked. "Is that any way to talk to the ninja who'll be protecting you, old man?" Tazuna glared at him.

"Be quiet, brat! I am Tazuna. A bridge-builder of ultimate renown. Until I am safely back in my own country, where I'll be completing my next bridge, you'll be expected to protect me…even is it costs you your lives!"

After that, the man swaggered out the door and presumably to his hotel for the night. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Get ready for your mission tonight and get a good sleep. You'll be leaving at dawn tomorrow."

"Hai." Chimed the voices.

"Naruto and Kakashi. I need to speak with you two, please stay."

Sasuke and Sakura glanced back at them, but Naruto just waved at them and said he'd see them tomorrow. The two of them walked off out the door and back to their homes. Naruto felt for their chakras before speaking, though.

"Thanks, gramps."

"Why did you want me to give you that particular mission?" Sarutobi said, ignoring the questioning looks Kakashi and Iruka sent them in favor of his question. They apparently hadn't noticed the interaction between the two of them earlier.

"This was a very important mission the first time around, and it could prove to yield some powerful allies, as well."

"…this isn't really a C rank mission, is it?" Kakashi suddenly asked, perceptively.

Naruto shook his head. "No, it had a rank A difficulty level. But don't change the team. We can handle it."

Sarutobi nodded. "Alright. But be careful. To think that you three went on such a difficult mission and completed it…" He mused.

"Well, we didn't come out unscathed. It was during this mission that Kyuu started to get through the seal. And that Sasuke activated his Sharingan. We even met a boy who had a kekkei genkai that involved hyouton creation. Not to mention, we fought Momochi Zabuza-" There was a gasp.

"Zabuza of the Silent Kill?" Iruka asked.

"Yeah, but in the end he turned on his employer, Gato, after the bastard kicked Haku's body."

"Who is Haku?" Kakashi asked.

"He's the ice user. He jumped in front of Zabuza just as you were about to use your Chidori on him…I think. No one ever told me exactly what happened, but that's what I gathered from looking at the results of the fight."

"What do you mean? You weren't there?"

"No…I was there, it was just that, right before that, I had just been about to kill Haku myself." Iruka and Kakashi both gazed at him, surprised. "Me and Sasuke had been caught in his ice trap jutsu, and I had thought that Sasuke was dead because Haku used his senbon needles to make it seem like he was dead, and then Kyuu came out and busted the mirrors up. Then I was about to kill him for killing Sasuke, when he just disappeared. I'm guessing it was because he sensed that Zabuza was in danger…"

He shrugged. "But I'm not gonna let that happen this time."

"Why?"

"Because I'm gonna try and turn them to our side. They can be our spies in the…darker aspects of the other countries, and especially Akatsuki."

Naruto had no qualms about giving any of this information out. He'd spent many hours now, speaking to Kyuu and determining their plan of action. He'd come to terms that _this_ was his time now. His precious people were all alive and well, except for maybe Gaara and Sai, but he'd work on that when he could. He wouldn't let what had happened come to pass, so there was no point in hiding it. He was still amazed at how well the three men were taking the situation. He'd told them his decisions and they had supported him fully.

They were coping magnificently, Kakashi even going so far as to help him with retraining his muscles. He was almost on par with Kakashi now, but that was a far cry from his former condition, not that he'd tell Kakashi that. But they didn't ask about his past and didn't try and pry further when he released information. He was grateful for them.

"But, don't worry, Kakashi-sensei. I'll warn you when something's gonna happen. Just to begin with though: A pair of Mist ninjas called the Demon Brothers plan on attacking us not far from the village and Zabuza himself will come after us once we reach the village. After that, though, I'm not sure what will happen. I plan on going after Haku before he can get too far after he rescues Zabuza. You'll need to give me a reason to go after him, so I don't look suspicious, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto mumbled, outlining his plans and getting lost in them. He would have kept talking if he hadn't heard the chuckle from Kakashi.

"You sound like Minato."

"You've told me that before." Naruto smiled. He'd told the three of them that he knew of his parentage as well. The Kakashi from his original time had said much the same as this one had, but he'd had to wait almost five years to hear it. But he hadn't realized that Kakashi had known the fourth was his father when he was this young.

Kakashi returned the smile, then suddenly jumped up on the windowsill. He raised a hand in farewell. "I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto. This should be an exciting mission." Then he was gone.

Iruka laughed. "Only Kakashi would think it was exciting. But, seriously, Naruto. Be careful."

Naruto nodded.

"Do you want me to send out a patrol to the area you'll be passing to take care of those two Mist ninja?" Sarutobi asked.

Naruto thought for a moment and then shook his head in the negative. "No. I'll need to talk to them, myself."

"Alright then, but, as Iruka said, be careful. Don't get in over your head; you won't be able to fix anything if you're dead.

"On the contrary, it might make everything quite a bit easier." The two older men exchanged glances. "But I plan on living along with everyone else. There's no point in saving them if I can't live with them." They nodded in understanding. With a set of farewells preceding his departure, he left to get his things ready and to get a good night's sleep.


	10. The Demon Brothers Plus Four

**10**

Naruto was at the front gates at five-thirty the next morning. He walked his way up the wall to the left of the gate, while making sure to deactivate the seals that would have acted as screeching alarms to a presence on the wall otherwise. He sat atop it once he made his way there. He pondered the fact that they hadn't changed the chakra codes to the alarms since this time. To him, it was a blaring security gap. He'd have to bring it up with Sarutobi when they got back.

Half an hour later, at the time the team was supposed to meet, Sasuke and Sakura arrived, with Tazuna in tow. Naruto stayed atop the wall, in the shadows he'd picked the spot for to begin with. For a second, he thought Sasuke's eyes had almost caught him, but a moment later, the raven shook his head and went back to stolidly ignoring Sakura, who Naruto noticed wasn't talking quite as much as usual, surprisingly.

Five minutes later, as Kakashi had to be late by some amount of time, Kakashi dropped onto the wall next to him. Naruto didn't so much as blink.

"So are you going to make an entrance or just hide up here?" his sensei asked.

"Aa…I don't feel like moving. I'll just come down when you guys are about to leave."

"Suit yourself."

"Yeah, well, hurry up. I want this mission over and done with."

Kakashi pulled an affronted look. "Such disrespect from a student to show his teacher." He said dramatically.

Naruto smiled slightly. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Kakashi-sensei. Please accept my humblest apologies." He bowed as far as he could without tumbling down off the wall. Kakashi shook his head and jumped down to join the three on the ground.

"You're late!" Sakura immediately yelled and pointed her finger at Kakashi.

"Yes, yes, road of life and all that…" Sasuke interrupted as Kakashi's mask moved, signaling he was about to give a random excuse. From what Naruto could see and hear, Kakashi said something about cruel students and pouted.

"Where's the squirt?" Tazuna asked. "We should be leaving soon."

"Oh, he's been here…" Kakashi paused and looked up at Naruto. "How long _have_ you been here, Naruto?"

The blond jumped down off the wall and answered without pause. "Five-thirty."

"Why would you come so early?" Sakura asked. Not with vehemence or anything, for once it was just a question.

"I woke up early. Sensei, can we leave now?" Naruto saw the other three staring at him. He didn't feel like explaining how he'd actually woken from a bad dream, or rather a replay of bad memories at two o'clock that morning and had been scared to go back to sleep. Imagine that, an ANBU captain, afraid to sleep. Of course, Naruto supposed, he was in a rather unique situation.

Seeing that Naruto wasn't in the best of moods, despite his joking attitude earlier, Kakashi briefly re-explained the mission to them and then they were off.

Naruto kept to himself, bringing up the back of the group, while the rest walked up next to Tazuna. Naruto scanned the ground, looking for the tell-tale puddle. No matter how skilled Naruto was, he couldn't stop himself from thinking how everything had gone to hell the first time around. Sure, they'd managed to get themselves out alive the first time around, but if ANBU had taught him anything, it was to expect the unexpected. So he walked and tried to remember exactly what had happened.

_They'd been walking along at a moderate pace, Naruto and Sasuke arguing as usual. Kakashi had just finished explaining to them the different leaders of the other shinobi territories, but he'd been somewhat reserved for the past few minutes and Sakura and Tazuna were just listening to the boys fight, Sakura having given up on defending Sasuke a while ago. That's when things shattered like a hammer taken to glass._

_When Naruto had turned around, he'd been just in time to see the bladed chains wrap around his sensei. He'd nearly died inside, seeing the chains cut his sensei to pieces, yet there was a niggling suspicion in his mind. Then the two men appeared behind him, chains flying- and he froze. The look in their eyes. They wanted blood. It was just like-_

Naruto shook his head, mentally shooing his thoughts away. That wasn't what he needed to worry about. No. What he needed to worry about was the fact that it had rained. The air around this area was still humid with the moisture in the air, the sky was still overcast, and his shoes were covered in wet mud. It had been nice and dry back in Konoha, but it had rained here not long ago.

Now, the problem wasn't with the rain itself, no, that wasn't it. The first time they'd been on this mission, the main reason Kakashi had been able to foresee the attack by the mist ninja was that it hadn't rained in days and he'd spotted the puddle on the ground. Now, even this wasn't a true problem; Naruto would still be able to sense them when they attacked. But the mere fact that it had _rained_ meant that this timeline was different than the one he'd come from. Either that, or he'd just proven to himself that his words, and probably even his very existence in this timeline, had affected the way things would proceed. And this fact meant that Naruto would have to very careful what he did and said from now on.

Suddenly, he heard it.

Naruto was suddenly on full alert. He whistled sharply and Kakashi immediately had a kunai out and was crouched in front of Tazuna. Tazuna, Sasuke, and Sakura looked around, confused at the sudden stances of Naruto and Kakashi.

Naruto ignored them as Kakashi took charge and told them to protect Tazuna. He listened carefully and calmed his breathing. This would be his first real fight since coming to this time, and his heart was racing. He heard the sound again and his heart skipped a beat. The sound of metal on metal, that of chains. The Demon Brothers were here, and from the sounds of it, there were more than just two brothers this time around. There were at least six enemy ninja.

"Sensei, there are six."

"Got it." Kakashi called back.

"What's happening, Kakashi?" Tazuna asked loudly.

"Quiet!" Naruto said. The next moment, four shapes darted out at them, three surrounding Naruto and he had the sudden urge to copy his teacher. As the chains of the three surrounded him, Naruto quickly used one of his clones with a replacement technique and the chains cut his clone to ribbons. When the memories of the clone came back to him, he shivered involuntarily. It wasn't a pleasant experience, being sliced up.

"Naruto!" Sasuke and Sakura shouted.

When he flared his chakra just slightly, Kakashi looked up into the copse of trees he hid in and glared at him. Naruto grinned, even though Kakashi couldn't see it and he jumped down to take out the actual Demon Brothers who were still hidden.

**xXx**

Kakashi watched in horror as Naruto was torn apart in front of his eyes. He heard the twin cries of "Naruto" from beside him and he glared murderously at the three ninja's whose bladed chains had cut through his pupil's body. It was then that he felt the small, familiar flare of Naruto's chakra from up in the trees off to his right. It wasn't big enough for the enemy ninja to find, only him.

_Damn this pupil from the future…gonna be the death of me. But, gotta hand it to him, it's exactly what I would do. I assume he's trying to get Tazuna to tell us that this isn't as low a mission level as he told the Hokage. It's a good thing Naruto already knows what happened-but, wait- I thought he said that we were attacked by the Demon Brothers only! There're back-ups with them!_

Kakashi was distracted from this line of thought as the four ninja attacked them. It was blatantly obvious as he tried to lure them away from his two other students and Tazuna that they were after the bridge-builder; they kept trying to get around him to get to him, or maybe-

He knocked one unconscious easily, with one blow, but then two came after him simultaneously, tying up his hands (A/N: not literally) and leaving the fourth one for his other two students to deal with.

**xXx**

Sasuke almost went running at the three ninja after he saw Naruto get…but when he looked at the remains not a second later, he realized that Naruto must have used a replacement jutsu, because there was nothing there; no body, no blood, no anything.

He was gonna hit Naruto when the blond came out of his hiding place.

Sasuke saw his sensei deal a knock-out blow to one of the ninja, whose body dropped like a bag full of rocks. The other two came at the one-eyed sensei from either side, leaving the last one to come at them. Looking slightly to his left, Sasuke could see his pink-haired teammate shaking. Tazuna looked like he was about to piss his pants.

_I suppose I'll have to deal with him, then._

Pulling out a kunai and prepping his throwing shuriken, he jumped in front of Tazuna and Sakura and threw the kunai at the ninja, who knocked it aside with his claws and kept coming at them. Having expected this, Sasuke threw two of his shuriken, pulling the wires whose ends he held in his hands around the ninja. After the wires crossed in mid-air, Sasuke maneuvered the wires around a tree not far behind the attacker and pulled the wires tight, taking an off-guard ninja with them against the tree. Pulling the wire to his teeth, Sasuke performed the hand signs and then brought the first two fingers of both hands together on the wire.

"Ryuuka no Jutsu!" He said through gritted teeth as he let his chakra flow through the wire in the form of low heat flames. Just as the chakra hit the opponent, Sasuke cut of the supply of chakra to the flames, stopping the jutsu as well. No use in killing your attacker if you can find out why he's after you. But all his hair would take a while to grow back.

**xXx**

Naruto snuck up on the Demon Brothers pretty easily, but, as he went to knock them both out, he found out why. As he struck them both blows to the head, they both disappeared, leaving two puddles of water in their wake. He immediately tensed and spread out his senses to find them again. The two clones had felt like actual people when he'd sensed their chakra and it was times like this when he wished he had the Sharingan. He gathered up his natural energy and eased his body into sage mode.

Using the chakra from all around him was still hard on his body, since he wasn't quite used to it yet, so he couldn't use it very often, but, if he wanted to find the Demon Brothers again, he'd have to. His normal senses couldn't pick an original from a bunch of clones. Hell, when he'd been this age, he couldn't pick himself out of _his own_ clones.

_Mist Nin and their fucking water clones. I wonder if that's how my opponents all felt when I used my clones that way…_

Then he found them again. As Kakashi was picking off the two ninja who came after him and Sasuke was walking back to Sakura and Tazuna after taking care of his opponent rather easily, the Demon Brothers were making their way through the waterlogged ground behind them. But there was something odd about their movement.

They were splitting up. It was hard to tell, because they technically weren't really bodies. They were traveling through the water by chakra, almost like a current through a metal wire. But Naruto could tell they were splitting up, and as far as he could tell, that wasn't a good thing. One was going towards Sasuke and one was going towards Tazuna and Sakura. What confused him was why one of them was going after Sasuke.

_Why the hell would their target be Sasuke?_ Naruto raged.

Naruto jumped from what had been the hiding place of the brothers' to behind Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna, so that he was between them and the brothers. Ignoring the cries of surprise from their client and his squad, he knelt and placed his hands on the ground and released some of the natural chakra he'd gathered.

"Kaze Kakuheki!" (A/N: literally "Wind Barrier Wall") He called.

With a sharp howl, a visible stream of air whipped past him and around the area the brothers were in. It formed a huge, cylindrical wall around them and forced them to cancel their own water traveling jutsu. They stood warily watching Naruto, and he could see the horror in their eyes as they watched the wall slowly converge on them forcing them to step back towards each other until they were standing back to back with the wall not inches from them. Naruto could hear that all motion had stopped behind him and could barely hear a breath, but he didn't care.

This had been the first jutsu he'd worked on once he'd started practicing his chakra control after he'd been sent back to this time. Next to the Rasengan and Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, this jutsu had been the most invaluable during war time. The Kaze Kakuheki was a jutsu of his own creation which, as was obvious, created a barrier of wind around the target. What was not obvious, however, was that nothing could hope to touch the barrier, inside or out, without being torn to shreds, unless he willed it. During the war, he'd used this technique many a time to capture and incapacitate a great number of enemies at a time.

It was normally unstable when used with natural chakra, but he didn't have enough regular chakra to use it yet, and his practice with it over the last month had helped a lot. He slowly stood up and performed three more hand-signs and said in a quiet voice as he held out a hand:

"Kuuhaku."(A/N: literally "Vacuum") He closed his fist, a gesture easily reminiscent of Gaara's sand burial.

The top of the barrier closed off and Naruto felt a soft breeze as the air inside the barrier was slowly expelled. The two ninjas panicked as they felt their air being stolen. They scrabbled at the wall, which Naruto had dulled in foresight of their reaction. He didn't want to kill them. Yet.

As the air was pulled from their lungs, it was only a matter of seconds before they were passed out against the wind barrier. Naruto dropped the jutsu and they fell to the ground as the escaping heated air rose into the atmosphere. Naruto knelt to the ground and tied the brothers' hands before searching them, not turning to see his team's expressions. He released the natural chakra from his body, slumping from the effort he'd exerted.

He found some soldier pills, which he pocketed, and four different technique scrolls, with which he did the same. There were no directive scrolls, so Naruto could only assume that they had memorized their mission orders. After seeing this fact, Naruto quickly divested the two of the weapons in plain sight and the poison that they used on their claws, making sure to note that they had no antidote on them (which likely meant that there was no known antidote). Once he did this, he laid them out orderly and unrolled a scroll he pulled from the pouch at his side. He carefully stored the items in the scroll for later inspection and/or use; a habit he'd gained from both the war and ANBU. Never let your enemies' weapons go to waste.

It was only then that he turned around. By this time, it was apparent that Kakashi had finished up with his fight, as he was dragging them into a pile next to the one Sasuke had taken out, who was still tied to the tree, twitching and slightly smoking. Sasuke and Sakura were standing next to Tazuna, who was sitting down with his back against a tree not far from their sensei. Naruto summoned a clone and directed him to pick up the brother on the right while he did the same with the brother on the left and they took the two over to the pile, where Kakashi stood waiting for him.

"That was impressive." He said.

Naruto let out a tired chuckle. "Yeah, well. Didn't really have time to plan out something more low-key. If I'd let them get any further, I would've had to choose which one to go after. They were splitting up."

"I wish I'd been able to copy those two jutsu." Kakashi said wistfully.

Naruto looked up, suddenly cheered, after he dumped his load on the ninja pile. "You mean you didn't see it."

Kakashi shook his head, looking downtrodden. "I didn't see the signs you used."

"Yay! I still have an original to my name!"

Kakashi's eyebrow rose. "What do you mean?"

Naruto smiled. "Back in my time, you knew every jutsu I did, until I came up with some of my own. Those two and my Rasen Shuriken were about the only ones you didn't know."

"You made those two?" Kakashi asked, surprised.

Naruto nodded his head exuberantly, proud of his creations. "When I was sixteen, just after I learned sage tech."

Kakashi nodded, proud of his student. "Well, what do you say we question these guys later. We need to talk to Tazuna, first. I assume we will continue with the mission."

"Yeah, the mission needs to go on, but I actually want to talk to these guys by myself first. You go ahead and question Tazuna. Can you get Sasuke and Sakura to agree to continue with the mission?"

"Oh, Naruto-kun! You wound me!"Kakashi said dramatically with a playful glint in his eyes.

"Alright, alright. Of course you can." Naruto said, shaking his head softly while grinning. "I'll be back soon, then. I'll leave one of my clones with you and two in replacement for the brothers so they don't wonder where I've gone and why I've taken two of our attackers with me."

"Alright."

Making sure none of the three at the tree not too far away from them were looking at them-and they weren't; they were talking amongst themselves-, Naruto quickly summoned two clones and disguised them as the brothers while a third clone help him carry the real ones away and the original clone that he'd never released stayed with Kakashi. Watching for a moment, Naruto saw the two of them walk over to the other three before pulling back further into the woods.

It was time for a question and answer session.


	11. Q & A Session

**11**

Naruto and his clone pulled the Demon Brothers further into the forest. Once he found a secluded spot, he had his clone search them more thoroughly for any further hidden weapons. Five minutes later found a rather large pile of sharp and combustible objects on the ground to the side. Stowing the weapons away in his scroll to examine at a later time, Naruto then separated the two brothers, one tied to a tree on one side of the clearing and the other on opposite side. The blond then set his clone to watching for intruders while he dealt with the brothers.

This having been done, Naruto turned his attention to what seemed to be the older of the two brothers, who he knew was named Gouzu from reading their profile in Kakashi's bingo book. When Naruto waved a bag of smelling salts beneath his nose, the man jerked to awareness. After a second, Gouzu's eyelids pulled back and he glared at Naruto who grinned at him.

"Why, hello. I must say that it wasn't too much of a pleasure to meet you, Gouzu-san."

The man defiantly sneered, unsurprised at the use of his name, and kept his lips pressed close together.

Naruto sighed theatrically. "That's fine. I don't need you to talk. You only need to listen."

Naruto smoothly dropped himself to the ground and crossed his legs.

"Now. By the way you fight, connected by a chain, I would say you are fond of your brother, Meizu, are you not?" The man still let no sound escape his lips but Naruto saw a glimpse of uncertainty in his eyes and the way he looked straight ahead and over Naruto to the still unconscious body of his brother. "Yes, I thought as much. But realize that I can let the two of you go without a second thought if you give me what I want. I'll even give you my protection."

"And what makes you think we'll need your _protection_?" The man said with a growl, placing a sarcastic emphasis on the word 'protection'.

"Well, if you tell me what I need to know, you won't need it, because I plan to go after whoever sent you and take them down."

"Do you, now? And how, pray tell, does a child plan to do this?" The man said scathingly and, though he was the one tied to the tree, he looked down on Naruto with disdain in his eyes.

"Because," Naruto smiled grimly. "This child has more to him than it looks." He forced some of Kyuubi's chakra into his eyes, just enough that they would bleed red, and, as the man looked into them, he paled.

"What are you?" He said shakily. It seemed the man knew when he was dealing with something over his head.

"Now, now. It would be dangerous for the both of us for you to know that. However, I suggest you do as I ask. I promise you I will let the both of you free. I only want to know who sent you and where they are."

"How can I trust your word?" A good question, all in all.

"Technically, you can't. However, if I truly planned on killing you two, I would have started torturing your younger brother in front of you until you gave me the information I seek. But, I am not one who enjoys killing needlessly." Naruto stood and, for effect, he crossed the clearing to stand next to the man's brother, who was still unconscious. He ran a hand down the man's cheek. "It would be a pity if you forced my hand."

He was sure he could hear the older brother swallow in the silence that followed. Then, like music to Naruto's ears, the man started to speak.

"I…I'm not sure exactly who the man who approached us was, but he wore an orange-looking mask with a black swirl on the front of it. He had a strange-looking companion with him-almost plant-like- and they both wore black coats that had red clouds on them. I think they were from that underground organization… Akatsuki was their name. I don't know how you would find them, though, because they move around a lot."

Throughout the man's confession, Naruto had to fight to keep his expression neutral. If it was Akatsuki, then that man with the spiral mask must have been Madara, which explained why they'd been after Sasuke, but not why they'd targeted Tazuna as well. Already the man was haunting him. He'd expected at least another year or so before Madara and Akatsuki showed up.

"Who were your targets?"

"The bridge builder and the Uchiha kid." The man answered.

"Is that all you know?" Naruto asked, coming up to the older brother and putting a hand under his chin, forcing him to look into his eyes as he answered. The man hesitated a moment before nodding.

"Yes."

Naruto nodded. "Well, then. Can you promise to take your brother and leave peacefully?"

"Yes, we will."

"Good. I'll cut your ropes in a moment, but, before I do, I need to warn you of something. Do not, under any circumstances, come into contact with any of the Akatsuki, because they _will_ kill you. Besides that, you need to stay away from the Rice country, otherwise known as the Sound country. Don't step foot in the Rain country either. Those two places would be very dangerous to you if you plan to keep up your work."

The man stared at him for a moment before nodding. Naruto pulled out a kunai and, before the brother had even had time to flinch, his ropes were cut. Flipping the kunai around in his hand, Naruto passed the ninja the blade and motioned him to go cut his brother's bonds. After the man stared at him for another long moment, Naruto sighed.

"Go. I don't break my promises. You're free to leave as long as no harm comes to my team or client."

"I…Thank you. Not many others would have done such." The brother bowed to Naruto then quickly went to his brother and woke him. Under Naruto's watchful eye, the older of the two explained the situation and he cut the ropes that held the younger to the tree. After this, the younger brother bowed to him as well and they both took to the trees a moment later, heading in the direction opposite his team.

_**They were surprisingly more honorable than I thought they would be. And less trouble to deal with. You didn't even have to torture them.**_ Kyuu chimed, although she sounded disappointed that there had been no torture session. As much of an ally as she was to Naruto, she still loved violence, in any form, regardless of if she sought it out or not.

_I know. But I think I like them. We might have made an ally of them by letting them go, too._

_** You mean **_**you**_** might have made an ally of then; **_**I**_** would have killed them. But, anyway, what do you make of the situation now, Kit?**_

_I'm not sure. I know we'll have to speed up our plans, perhaps even for when we return from this mission. I just hope Madara doesn't meddle in this mission._

_**You know what, kit?**_

_What?_

_**I always had a strange feeling about this attack the first time around. It never quite fit in with everything else Gato did. I never liked the fact that they attacked here, not far from Konoha, instead of in their own country. And now we find out that Madara is behind it in this time? Gato might have never been behind this attack to begin with. And perhaps Madara is not moving early, but at the same rate as he did the first time.**_

Naruto stared into space for a lengthy period of time before he answered her. _You know, I think you're right, although I never thought about it that way. But for what purpose would Madara, or Akatsuki in general, have attacked this early and then just disappeared again? And, this time around, why would he have targeted both Sasuke and Tazuna when they could have all just gone after Sasuke?_

_**I think it may be too soon to tell. But I believe you're right; we should speed up our plans. I think we're safe for the time being, though.**_

**xXx**

When Naruto returned to his team, Kakashi and his clone were separated from everyone else again, as Kakashi sent off a summoned hawk to alert ANBU to the presence of the ninja they had captured. He easily switched places with his clone and dispelled it without garnering any notice from anyone but Kakashi.

"You let them go?" Kakashi eyed him, noticing Naruto hadn't brought back the brothers, and that the clones disguising themselves as the brothers had disappeared as well.

Naruto nodded. "In exchange for information."

"How'd it go?" Kakashi asked, nodding at the explanation and realizing that Naruto must have had a good reason.

Naruto shook his head. "Not good. A familiar enemy has surfaced far sooner than I expected. They were targeting Sasuke along with Tazuna. This isn't the same as the timeline I remember, and although it's vaguely similar- enough that I know how to deal with it, at least- the smaller, most important details are drastically different. Like the number of ninja that attacked us here, when in my timeline there were only two. Like the fact that it rained today, when in my timeline it had not rained for days. And like the fact that Sasuke is being targeted already, when that shouldn't happen for another five years."

As the blond massaged his temples against a growing migraine, Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder.

"Look, Naruto, it will be fine. You can deal with this. But, tell me, why is Sasuke being targeted?"

Naruto heaved a sigh. "There is a man called Uchiha Madara that runs the organization called Akatsuki from the shadows."

"But Uchiha Madara is dead, is he not?" Kakashi asked, his eyes widening a margin in recognition of the famous historical figure.

"No, he's not. I'm not sure how he managed it, but he's alive and well. And he wants as many kekkei genkai as he can get. In my timeline, Uchiha Itachi passed on his eyes to Sasuke before Madara could get them. But Madara is also after the Jinchuuriki, so he came after us when both Sasuke and I were together and…" sucking in a shaking breath, Naruto shook his head hard. He quickly cast a glance at the young raven, just to reassure himself that he was still there, but still the panic attack fell upon him, even as Sasuke met his eyes from where he sat next to Tazuna.

He could feel himself gasping for breath, shaking as his nerves broke. But he didn't really _feel_ it. The attack seemed as if it was happening to another person, because the only thing he could think of was that he simply wouldn't be able to live if Sasuke died again. Not when he was _still_ suffering the effects of the raven's death in his original timeline. Even when Sasuke was standing there, right in his sightline, breathing, and _alive_.

"I can't. I can't lose him again. I've lost him so many times-" His voice cracked. He dropped to his knees. He _knew_ he was having a panic attack but he couldn't stop it!

But, suddenly, as he struggled to calm down, Naruto was pulled away and into his mind, a familiar setting of a white room with pillows and blankets everywhere and with its only occupants being himself and Kyuu. Tears started to flow as he recognized his sanctuary and he sobbed on his hands and knees pitifully. Kyuu, who stood in her human form next to him, pulled him up and pressed his head into her kimono-covered bosom without saying a word and it was only when she pulled him down with her into her heap of blankets and pillows that she spoke. It was a soft, smooth, _human_ voice that sounded nothing like the one he always heard when she spoke to him while he was awake.

"Kit, you must stop this. Regardless of the good outcomes of it, this is what got us into this mess in the first place. I _understand_ why you would suppress such emotions, but there is no reason for it anymore. Sasuke is alive again! You're only causing yourself more pain." She sighed. "I suppose I must blame myself a bit. I should have gotten you to speak about what happened already. I was a fool to let this fester for so long."

Naruto's voice hitched as he spoke. "My fault…my fault he's dead. If I had just-" Kyuu cut him off.

"No, Kit. It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault, what happened to Sasuke. He chose what he wanted to do and I'm sure he had no regrets about it. You couldn't have done anything."

"But if I had-"

"No." Kyuu said firmly. "Think about it. Think about it carefully, Kit. I don't want to have to force you to remember, but you are suffering with far too many nightmares, far too many panic attacks- I can't let you do this to yourself!"

Naruto looked up at Kyuu and took in her fierce red eyes, her worried expression. He watched as she pleaded with him and finally, slowly nodded. Kyuu smiled sadly and hugged him closer. Then she pressed a finger to his forehead and his eyelids fell shut.

**xXx**

_When we arrived at the valley of the end, we hadn't expected what we found. We had planned, just Sasuke and I, to go and reminisce and perhaps have a spar, mocking whatever gods had deemed it amusing to separate us in this very spot so many years ago and to celebrate Sasuke's return to Konoha at last._

_But, apparently, the gods didn't like to be mocked._

_Standing there when we jumped down to the water side was a familiar figure, in a familiar cloak, with a familiar smirk on his face. Immediately, Sasuke and I were on guard and, not a moment later, Uchiha Madara launched himself at us._

_For a time, we held our own, Sasuke and I landing hits on the man just as much as he did the same to us. But our luck didn't hold out. Madara had set up an ambush for us there. Backups jumped in from out of nowhere and Sasuke and I began to lose ground. Sasuke told me to take out the reinforcements, and, not wanting to argue with him in the situation we were in I created some clones and fought them back. They were weak, but they still forced me to keep my attention away from the two Uchihas._

_And that was when it happened._

_I had just finished off the last one and turned back to the fight and the first thing that entered my sight was that of Uchiha Madara, not ten feet away from me, his hand reared back as he ran at me._

_I froze._

_The next thing that entered my sight was Sasuke's face. It wasn't completely distorted in pain, but there was discomfort in his features, his black hair fell forward into his face and he seemed to fall forward with it. As if that movement broke a spell on me, I cried out in horror and pulled him to me and jumped back. I felt it when Sasuke's body caught on Madara's hand as I pulled him away from it. I laid him out on the ground and my hands shook horribly. I kept saying one thing over and over._

_No, no, no, no, no…_

**xXx**

"He saved your life, Kit. Don't throw away that sacrifice by dwelling on it." Kyuu said softly when he opened his eyes again. His tears had renewed at the fresh memory of Sasuke's death, but the fox had finally gotten her point through to his mind. He'd been so adamant that Sasuke's death had been his fault- that he could have done something to prevent it- that he had forgotten what had truly happened. He had been wrong, and he could only imagine what Sasuke would have said if he'd known what Naruto had made himself believe.

"_Do you think I'm so stupid that I can't decide on my own whether or not to take a blow for you, Dobe?_

Naruto laughed for a moment at the thought of Sasuke telling him off in the afterlife. Then he smiled softly up at Kyuu and wiped the tears off his face.

"Can you deal with the real world now? Your team is waiting." Kyuu asked seriously.

"I…think so…Thank you, Kyuu. Really. I miss him, and it still hurts, but I don't think you have to worry about me breaking down again."

"I hope so. I hate seeing you so broken. It reminds me of when you were a child."

"I'm sorry, Kyuu, that you have to see my worst sides."

"It's fine, besides, this time I have an idea that we won't need to finish Madara off so quickly this time. We can take our sweet time dealing with him and no one would mind. Such sweet screams we could pull out of him."

Kyuu's face, beautiful and regal, with sharp features and long fire-red hair pulled back out of her face with a jeweled pin, was suddenly split with a murderous and maniacal grin, showing sharp canines. A second later though, Naruto's face mirrored hers, and he nodded decisively.

"Kyuu, you always know how to cheer me up." Naruto said as the body he stood in began to fade, allowing his real body to wake. He still heard her laughter ringing in his ears even as he woke.

**xXx**

He opened his eyes slowly, sensing his surroundings and the chakras around him. He was lying on the ground beneath a tree, the sun speckling his skin. Seeing the position of the sun, he noticed that it couldn't have been more than half an hour since he'd had his panic attack. Suddenly, making him tense and reach for a weapon, Sakura's face appeared above his. A hand caught the one that was searching for a weapon and he looked to his right to see Kakashi sitting against a tree next to him and looking down at him. He let out a breath and relaxed, pulling himself up and rubbing his eyes.

Looking around, he saw Sakura to his left, Kakashi still in the same spot, and Tazuna on the other side of Sakura. But where was…? Oh, Sasuke was standing against the side of the tree. He could only just make out the raven's clothes, as they were mostly blocked from his view by the tree.

"Are you okay, Naruto-kun? You had another panic attack and passed out." Sakura informed him, but this time, she genuinely sounded worried for him.

He smiled at her. "I'm fine now."

"Good." Tazuna interjected roughly before any of his team could say anything. "Can we get a move-on now? The bridge is waiting."

"I think you are under the influence of a slight misconception, Tazuna-san." Naruto jumped and looked at his sensei in surprise as Kakashi stood up and glared menacingly, one eye and all, at the bridge builder, who in turn paled drastically. "Since this mission is no longer Hokage-sanctioned, we have the right, at any time, to abandon this mission and leave you to fend for yourself against Gato. So, for your own interests, you had better show more regard for my students' welfare. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes, Kakashi-san. I understand. I was merely impatient to get moving."

At the tameness tone in the bridge builder's voice, Naruto barked a laugh. He hadn't heard his sensei speak like that in a long while and the reactions of the recipient of Kakashi's tone never failed to amuse him. When everyone turned to look at him, though, he waved them off and gathered himself up to stand. "If everyone's ready, shall we go? We still have a couple hours of daylight left."

They all answered him in the affirmative, and, after finding their packs, the five of them once again started on their way to Kirigakure. Sasuke fell into step next to Naruto at the front of the group.

"Are you really alright?" the raven asked.

"Yeah…Why?"

"I just…before you passed out, I saw you look at me. You were crying and you looked…your eyes were sad…They looked just like mine after…after my clan was killed."

Naruto watched as the Uchiha haltingly explained why he had asked after his health, and he knew the boy was worried for him. But he was surprised that the Uchiha had mentioned his clan's massacre to him though, regardless of if they were friends or not.

"I really am fine. I feel better now; I guess I realized something while I was unconscious. I…don't think I'll have any more attacks like that."

Sasuke watched him to see if he was lying for a moment, before nodding and turning his attention back to his surroundings.

Of course, Sasuke wouldn't have been able to see if he was lying if Naruto hadn't wanted him too, but the blond really wasn't deceiving him. Naruto honestly felt better than he had in a very long time.

Suddenly, Naruto felt a sharp pain on the side of his head. After a second he realized what it was.

"Agh! Teme! What'd you do that for?" Naruto asked when Sasuke acted like he hadn't just hit Naruto upside the head.

"That was for pretending to be dead, dobe." Naruto pouted, but inwardly he smiled at the concern Sasuke apparently had for him, even though the boy was hiding it.

6


	12. Old Times

**12**

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and Tazuna were about six hours away from Kirigakure. They'd stopped for the night in a small clearing and were bedding down for the night. Naruto had called the first watch and Sakura had already fallen fast asleep against Kakashi's shoulder. Sasuke was nodding off, and Tazuna had just meandered into the forest to, as he put it, "take a dump". The statement was something Naruto hadn't wanted to hear, and it had put disturbing images into his head. At the moment he was trying to kill his imagination.

"Are you all right?"

Naruto looked up from his blank inspection of the scroll he held in his hands. He'd planned to look through all the new weapons he'd acquired earlier in the day and sort them into things he thought he would need and things he would save to keep at his apartment for later use. Naruto shook his head for a second and focused on what Kakashi was saying, finally realizing he was speaking of the events earlier in the day. He was beginning to hear that phrase a lot.

He nodded his head. "I…yeah, I'm fine. I just feel foolish now. I was dwelling over the past far too much even though I've seen the effects from doing that before."

"Sometimes…" Kakashi began. "Sometimes grief stops us from seeing past the things we are dwelling on. It happens to the best of us."

"But to let it get so far…" Naruto persisted.

"You seem intent on making the worst of yourself, Naruto." The Jounin pulled Sakura down off his shoulder and maneuvered her head into his lap. Naruto assumed the man's shoulder had been falling asleep, but Sakura didn't protest the movement, sound asleep as she was.

"I…"

"Regardless of age, anything can get to anyone in the right circumstances. It doesn't matter who you are or how powerful. But, you said you won't have to worry about having those panic attacks anymore, right?"

Naruto nodded hesitantly.

"Then stop beating yourself up about it. The past is the past."

"That's what Kyuu has been saying."

"Your Bijuu?" Naruto nodded at Kakashi's questioning look. He was sure he'd mentioned her name out loud before, but he didn't remember actually explaining who she was, and, although he was sure Kakashi knew who he was referring to, he knew Kakashi was curious. No one really ever got the chance to talk to a Jinchuuriki about their Bijuu, after all.

"You should listen to it."

"_Her._ Kyuubi is female." Naruto said, uncrossing his legs and stretching them.

"Right." Kakashi said without missing a beat. "You should listen to her. She's right."

"I think so too."

"Do you?"

"…yeah." Naruto confirmed awkwardly.

"Good, then." It seemed that there was no way to end such a conversation, and Kakashi's words sort of trailed off into the air.

The two met each other's eyes and Naruto started giggling like the child he appeared to be. Kakashi smirked, now sure that his student was in a better mood. Sakura groggily swiped a hand at the silver-haired Jounin, murmuring for them to be quiet. That only made Naruto laugh harder, but his laughing fit didn't last long; Sasuke looked up at them with squinted, tired eyes and glared. Then he got up and, leaning his head on Naruto's thigh as he laid back down next to the blond, told them off in a clearly sleepy voice.

"Shut up and be a useful pillow, dobe."

Just hearing that phrase out of the once stoic Sasuke's mouth made Naruto want to roll around in laughter, but, seeing the dark rings around Sasuke's eyes, he determined to let the Uchiha sleep.

He looked up and met eyes with Kakashi, seeing the man's smirk die off below his mask as he caught sight of Sasuke's tired features. They exchanged questioning glances, but neither of them knew what was wrong. They'd been travelling all day, but that was no reason to be so tired. It was like Sasuke hadn't been sleeping lately. He was beginning to worry about the boy. Had this happened the first time they'd come to the Land of Waves? Had he not noticed?

Naruto was abruptly interrupted from these worrying thoughts as Tazuna strolled back into the clearing. Immediately, Naruto did a subtle _Kai_ release. When nothing happened, he relaxed, assured that the man was no intruder in disguise.

He'd had a bad experience back when he was in ANBU, where an enemy had killed one of his teammates and acted as them for just enough time to kill his other teammate. Considering he'd been the only survivor, although he'd killed the enemy ninja, it hadn't been the best of missions, and it still hung over his shoulders as a warning to check when someone came back from somewhere out of sight.

Tazuna, unaware that he'd just been the target of Naruto's intense focus, scratched his ass and fell back onto his bed roll, falling asleep immediately upon impact. Naruto shook his head in disgust. No matter how much the man had grown on him in his own time, the bridge-builder was still a manipulative, arrogant drunkard. Especially since none of the events that had caused them to get close had even occurred yet.

But, putting the matter aside, and with these brilliantly jovial thoughts in back of his mind, Naruto set to work on inspecting his new weapons. Kakashi just watched him with a raised eyebrow until he finally leant back and closed his visible eye.

**xXx**

Naruto pushed his dampening hair from his eyes as they walked through the mist. He'd started growing his hair out and it kept falling in his eyes so often that he was tempted to cut it all off again, but he remembered how useful having long hair was, since he'd adopted Jiraiya's Hari Jizou, and other hair jutsu.

They'd just stepped through the boundaries of Kirigakure a few minutes before and he was on guard for a threat he knew would soon appear. Kakashi lead the group with Sakura and Sasuke following behind with Tazuna in the middle. Naruto brought up the tail end of the group. His hands were in the pockets of his pants, idly playing with the kunai and shuriken he'd hidden there for quick access.

This time, he ignored the rabbit rustling in the brush, but when Kakashi sent him back a casual glance, which the man had done every time there had been a suspect noise (which had begun to make Naruto a little exasperated), Naruto nodded. The attack had begun.

**xXx**

When I saw Naruto nod at Kakashi out of the corner of my eye, I knew something was up.

The looks had been casual enough. Just a sensei glancing back to make sure his students and client were alright. But by the fourth shaken head from Naruto, I figured the two of them knew something the rest of us didn't. Sakura was clueless; she was diligently observing the landscape for something out of place, not bothering to pay any attention to her team. And Tazuna…well…the old geezer seemed to be drunk again.

Finally, I noticed a pattern. Every time there was a suspicious noise, anything that made a sound loud enough to be a ninja lurking in the shadows, Kakashi looked back at Naruto. I took an educated guess, considering ninja had already been hired by Gato to kill us once already, and figured that every time Naruto shook his head meant there was nothing to worry about. Going with this theory, when he nodded his head, I tensed up. So did Kakashi. Well, lookie there. Got it right in one.

"Get down!" Kakashi shouted just as a whistling sound reached my ears.

Although I saw Sakura freeze, I jumped at Tazuna, not expecting him to be able to react quickly to Kakashi's command. I pushed him down to the ground and he fell with an _oomph_. I hoped Naruto could get to Sakura, but he did one better.

Just as the huge flying blade reached the edge of my sight, Naruto jumped in front of Sakura, who was directly in its path and about to get cut into even halves, and who would've never been able to move in time, and he diverted the path of the blade.

With a kunai.

I laid there in amazement and something I don't want to admit as awe. It would take amazing skill, accuracy, and strength to pull that off. To completely alter the direction of something that large flying so fast.

"Well, I see your guards aren't completely incompetent, bridge-builder." Came a rough voice from the direction of the tree that the sword had imbedded itself in.

Pulling Tazuna to his feet and maneuvering him behind me, I looked and saw a tall gangly-looking man standing atop the handle of what was presumably his blade. He was shirtless and wore striped pants and gray camouflaged sandals and arm-warmers. It didn't look like he had any other weapons on his person. Either he was incredibly stupid or insanely powerful, but the moment I looked into his eyes I immediately decided the latter. He had cold, cruel eyes.

I felt more than heard Naruto and Sakura come up on either side of me and Tazuna in a protective formation as Kakashi stepped back and motioned us.

"Momochi Zabuza." Kakashi said simply.

"So you've heard of me Kakashi Hatake. I'm honored." The man replied sarcastically.

"You all should stay back. He's on a different level than those other ninja. You'd just get yourselves hurt." Kakashi directed at us. Somehow though, I felt like he had left something out, like he'd added more to the sentence in his own thoughts.

Slowly, the silver-haired Jounin put a hand up to his hitai-ate and pushed it up, uncovering his eye. Because none of us could see his face, we wondered what he was doing, but the man, Zabuza, commented on the movement.

"You must think highly of me, Hatake, to reveal your Sharingan so soon."

"Sharingan?" I exclaimed, unbelieving of the sentence that had just passed the man's lips. There was no way anyone could have the Sharingan. Me and my brother were the only living Uchiha! Unless…

"Calm down, Sasuke. I meant to show you this earlier, but I never got the chance. For right now, just let it be." He glanced back at me and I could feel my eyes widen when I saw the proof of the Sharingan under a scarred, half-mast eyelid. It was spinning. I took a deep, shaky breath and nodded slowly. A deep part of me acknowledged that, before I graduated from the academy, I wouldn't have taken this discovery nearly as calmly. Everything that had to do with the Uchiha clan just got under my skin, then. But, either way, this was a bad time and place for me to make a big deal about it.

"Good, we don't need brats getting in the way of our fight, do we Kakashi?" I nearly growled at the man, but the words had a sense of finality to them. When I focused in on the man, I saw that he held himself in a position to jump as he crouched on his sword with his legs tensed.

A second later he and his sword disappeared with a large _crack_.

**xXx**

I followed the conversation warily. Almost all the actions taken so far had been the same, but none of the words had been. This time around I recognized Sasuke's shock at seeing the Sharingan, but he hadn't spoken out the first time; I really couldn't expect anything to be exactly the same in this timeline.

My arm was still a little numb from where I'd redirected Zabuza's sword, but I'd wanted to prove to Zabuza that I had some strength to me. That way I could talk to him as an equal a little more easily later on. After all, Zabuza was one of those people who respected power above all else. Somewhere in the area I could feel Haku watching the proceedings and I knew he was focusing almost completely on me and Kakashi, the foremost threats in the group.

The moment Zabuza jumped away from the tree I had to physically restrain myself from throwing my kunai at the spot I knew he'd land. I cursed the fact that I had to hide most of my abilities from my teammates. And the main problem was that even the _weak_ techniques that I had revealed were already making Sasuke suspicious. Thank Kami Sakura was too amazed to think about it further, but now I had to be more careful.

Zabuza landed on the surface of the water not far away from us. There, he gathered his chakra and activated his signature technique. His Kirigakure Jutsu. As another bad sign, he did this without speaking, whereas I was sure he had bragged about it the first time around. The mist started to grow thicker around us, and before it grew so thick that I could no longer maintain eye contact with him, I decided to get Kakashi's attention. I felt Zabuza's killing intent spread over us through the mist.

"Kakashi-sensei…" I started in a worried voice. He looked back for a moment after losing Zabuza's movements. Without moving my head I looked out at the mangroves pointedly.

"Don't worry, Naruto. I will never let my comrades die." He said to hide his subtle nod. I nodded back. Before I made my own silent escape I looked over to Sasuke. He was trying to stop himself shaking. I clenched my teeth, remembering the feeling.

The moment I silently summoned my clone and made my way out of the mist was the same moment Zabuza attacked Tazuna, Sasuke, Sakura, and my clone. I felt my heart speed up in giddiness as I realized my abilities had risen back to such a point that I could outmaneuver a master of the silent killing technique in the midst of his own attack. Shaking my head and drawing my attention away from the fight, which I was sure Kakashi could handle, I extended my senses to search for Haku and a second later I jumped away to find his hiding spot.

The second I came up behind the crouching, masked figure, Haku spun around and shot some of his senbon needles at me. It reminded me just how much I abhorred senbon needles. I caught four of the five he sent at me, but I only just managed to move my neck aside in time for the fifth to sail past it.

"Who-!" I saw Haku freeze before darting a glance back at the fight where my clone was shouting out a warning to Kakashi that Zabuza was behind him. Haku quickly reached into what I assume was a hidden pocket in his kimono and pulled out more senbon.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I said quietly, putting up a hand in a widely accepted surrendering gesture and the other with the index finger against my lips, telling Haku to be quiet. I didn't want to draw the attention of the people fighting on the ground. Haku quirked his head to the side in confusion but did not put his weapon down. Good man.

"I don't care what you're doing here or what you do after this, but I want you to deliver this letter to Zabuza after the fight. The offer it contains includes you as well. I want you to think very carefully and realize that every word in it is the truth."

"And what guarantee do we have of this." Haku replied warily, taking the envelope I had pulled from one of the pockets of my pants carefully and inspecting it to make sure it was no trick.

"None. But realize that you have everything to gain and nothing to lose by only reading and considering it. If you make a decision, come find me. I'll be in the area the letter specifies. And don't get any ideas; that's not where Tazuna is going to be."

"And what makes you think you and you're team will survive this fight?" Haku asked softly.

I smirked. "Intuition." I backed away to jump down and rejoin the fight, but Haku stopped me. "Who are you?"

"If you decide to take me up on my offer, I might just tell you."

The next moment found me switching places with my clone just as the mist completely dispersed. My spirits sunk as I realized Kakashi sensei had just been captured in Zabuza's water-prison jutsu. I realized I was going to have to get him out of it. Looking around me, I saw the others were nearby and one of Zabuza's water clones was standing almost ten feet away from me. A thought occurred to me that, if everything was going the same way, why not let it stay the same?

I guessed I was supposed to be scared, but the adrenaline of the fight was just too much. Either way, the man took my shakes as fear and I let him.

"Look at the scared little boy, playing at being a ninja. You know just because you wear a hitai-ate doesn't mean you're a ninja."

I glared at him. "Shut up!" I shouted. I still didn't take well to anyone insulting my pride as a ninja and apparently he didn't take well to being told what to do. I quickly put my arms in front of me to cushion the blow of the kick Zabuza aimed at me. I let myself fly back, but before the force of his kick connected I subtly put a tracking jutsu on his sandal. I had to make myself look like I was a genin, after all, but there was no use in letting the opportunity go by.

When I landed on my feet, the man raised an eyebrow at me. "Well, aren't you the talented little genin, to take a kick like that and still manage to stay upright."

"I thought-" I paused, winded even though I'd blocked the brunt of the kick. "I thought that I wasn't even a ninja in your book."

"Are you trying to make me mad, smartass?" Zabuza asked, amused regardless of what he'd just said.

"Naruto, everyone, you have to get out of here!" Kakashi shouted from his prison. "He can't follow you if he has to keep me here."

I raised an eyebrow myself at that. There was no reason for the man to say that. Even if Kakashi didn't think I could handle Zabuza, I had still made it clear that the man had a partner, who could and would hunt us down. I mentally shook my head. He must have been trying to further my cover.

"I have a plan!" I looked back to Sasuke and Sakura and declared loudly into the open air while locking eyes with Sasuke. He looked confused for a second before nodding, though.

"No! This fight was over the moment he caught me! You have to protect Tazuna!" Now I knew Kakashi's words were to further my cover. Kakashi had already made it clear to Tazuna's face that, on this mission, he valued the lives and well-being of his students far more than that of their pseudo-client. I looked back at Tazuna who was staring at me with something like surprised realization, as if he'd only figured out just now that there was something more to me than it looked.

"No…He's your sensei, and I got us all into this mess in the first place by lying, so you just do what you need to." Tazuna said with a firm nod.

"That's that then. I suppose it's time for some teamwork?" Sasuke commented. Sakura looked a little dazed.

"Yep."

"Do you brats really think you stand a chance against me?" I could tell the man was about to go on and I had a feeling that it was to enlighten my team upon his upbringing. I didn't need Sasuke's or Sakura's nerves to be any worse than they already were, so I interrupted him.

"So I'm back to being a brat again? Make up your mind!" I think I went too far. Zabuza glared at me and went to attack, but he didn't go for me. Seeing him darting forward to elbow Sasuke in the gut, I raced to my right and managed to beat him there and take the hit for Sasuke, who wouldn't have known how to take a hit from someone who had actually wished him real harm. I was almost sent flying again, but Sasuke, cursing at me all the while, steadied me.

"Why the hell did you do that for, dobe!" He said in a harsh whisper in my ear.

"Because I owe you." I answered back, even though it must've confused the hell out of him. Without paying attention to his reaction, though, I immediately formed the hand-signs for my clone technique and summoned enough that I was camouflaged among them.

Zabuza made a comment or two on the number of clones but I paid him no attention until he started swinging his huge sword around and destroyed over half of my clones all at once. I transformed myself into the form of one of the windmill shuriken I had nipped off of the Demon Brothers and had a clone throw me to Sasuke. The moment I flared my chakra at him, he knew the plan and secreted one of his own shuriken out of his pack with a big production and a subtle hand. The next thing I knew I was spinning through the air. Sasuke threw me and his shuriken (AN: That's not a weird way to think of it at all, is it?) at the original Zabuza, who caught Sasuke's shuriken easily. After he dodged me by jumping up into the air, I released the transformation and cast multiple kunai and shuriken at him.

I let myself fall into the water just as Zabuza was forced to release Kakashi from the water prison. As I swam to shore, I realized that everything that happened after that, happened exactly the same way it did before, with Zabuza and Kakashi exchanging banter and attacks like crazy and us, the rest of the team and Tazuna, standing there on the sideline looking like idiots.

After we were soaked in a bigger-than-large wave from Kakashi's and Zabuza's fight, the situation came the point where Haku appeared, just after he made it look like he'd killed Zabuza. The boy/hunter's gaze fell on me for a short while as he explained away his station and purpose for being at this place. Kakashi, looking more than dead on his feet, just looked at me out of the corner of his eye. Seeing me make no move to stop the two of them, he did the same. Sensing the lack of ill intent, for the time being at least, Haku spirited himself and Zabuza away.

Kakashi fell into a dead faint the moment they were gone. I shivered, realizing that I'd have to be careful in the way I dealt with things. There was no way Kakashi would be able to recover fully by the time the battle on the bridge came around, and he wouldn't be able to help if I got myself into anything I couldn't handle.


	13. The Proposition

**13**

Two days later, by the time Kakashi woke up, Naruto already had Sasuke and Sakura up and training.

It was simple to do, really. All Naruto had to do was act supremely curious about how Kakashi and Zabuza were able to walk on water. He'd sat down in front of the little lagoon near Tazuna's house and made a big production of thinking, scratching his head, and rambling aloud. Finally, the idea wormed its way into Sakura's mind and she ran with it.

"It must have something to do with chakra!" she exclaimed. Naruto almost sighed aloud. It was an obvious conclusion. Hell, even he'd known it had something to do with chakra the first time he'd seen it. They were _ninja _for Kami's sake! When ninja could walk on water and regular villagers couldn't, what was the variable? But instead of saying this, he grinned.

"Yeah! They must make the chakra in their feet pull their feet to the surface they want to stand on." Naruto said. When the other two looked at him with raised eyebrows, he put on a face of indignation. Oops, had that been too fast for the village idiot? "What?" He said loudly. "I'm not an idiot!"

"Coulda fooled me!" came a voice from not far away. Naruto almost groaned in recognition. Inari, who sat on the porch of his home swinging his legs and watching them train, had been a stubborn little brat. And it seemed fate wasn't going to save Naruto's ears this time around either.

"What did you say?" He asked, affecting a pose of indignation. Internally, he winced. All too easily, he was falling back into his habit of acting. He'd done it with Sasuke, Sakura, and Konohamaru and now he was doing it with Inari. Damn it, but it was hard! He forced himself to settle down, not to act as he would have as a kid… as… what he was supposed to be now.

A nagging thought appeared in the back of his mind, but he pushed it away. He'd think about it later. At this, Inari's voice made its way into his ears.

"-Grandpa from Gato! What else could you be?" Inari asked semi-seriously, with an emphasis on the sarcasm of the question. Naruto could easily fill in the blanks in what he hadn't heard.

He sighed, which surprised Inari, who had evidently expected him to become angry, just like he had the first time around. But he wanted to do this differently, though with the same effect. He'd have to be a little harsh if he wanted to get the idea through the brat's thick skull a little more quickly.

"Do you want your grandfather to die?" He asked seriously.

"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed. As he looked back at her, he saw Sasuke shake his head at her, telling her to be quiet. Naruto smiled slightly in thanks and turned back to business at hand.

Inari's eyes had widened, but then he started glaring, although he shook his head to give his answer.

"Then don't call the people protecting him idiots. Gato may have managed to kill your dad," Here Inari paled and he heard Sakura and Sasuke gasp. ", but Gato's power only extends to hiring goons."

"Yeah, well, one of those goons took down your sensei in there!" Inari pointed into the house and spat harshly. "And how do you know about that?" He shouted. He jumped off the porch, clenching his fists, but came no closer.

"I have sources. That might just go to show you how much of an idiot I am." Naruto continued. "Inari, you can't just give up on things changing. Ninja are stronger than you might think. We can take Gato down. The only reason our sensei got so beat up was because he took on a really strong rogue ninja all by himself. We'll be able to help him next time." Naruto didn't let on that he had reason to hope that there wouldn't be a next time.

Inari was silent for a good minute before he said anything else, and when he did, he was much calmer than he had been before. "We'll see. But I'll only take back calling you an idiot if you survive taking Gato down!" The last part was shouted to cover up embarrassment as Inari ran off to somewhere behind the house. Naruto smiled, knowing he'd gotten his message through the boy's head. It had been so much easier than last time, too.

"Damn, Dobe." Sasuke commented, surprising Naruto with the curse. The Uchiha had picked up a little of his bad language habits since they'd begun hanging out more often. "Since when were you so good with kids?"

"Since today, I guess." A harsh sigh was heard from behind them and they both turned to face Sakura, who was tapping her foot at them.

"So, when are we going to get back to figuring out how to walk on water?"

Naruto grinned at her and rubbed at the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, I suppose now would be a good time." He dodged a fist. "Alright, alright! If I was right about how it works," Which he was. "We should probably try it on something solid first, instead of something that moves around constantly."

He looked around, as if he was unsure about what to use for such a thing.

"How about one of these trees?" Sasuke suggested.

"Yeah! That'll work!" Naruto said happily. He marched into the woods to their right and found a good set of trees for Sasuke and Sakura to use. He stamped his foot against one of them and made a show of concentrating _really_ hard, and then he lifted his other foot and let it stick to the trunk for a second to emphasize the unnaturalness of the position before he forced himself to stumble back.

"I did it! Did you guys see?" He grinned.

"What did you do?" Sasuke asked, somehow unsurprised at the fact that Naruto had gotten it on the first try, if only for a second. Naruto had gotten him used to it when they'd been training together, picking a taijutsu or something and making sure that Sasuke knew that he'd never done it before and then doing it on the first try, if not perfectly. That way Sasuke would have something to work for in his training and he wouldn't be too suspicious when Naruto could do something no other genin could. Naruto made sure Sasuke also knew that he trained on his own, though. Just as a precaution.

"I channeled my chakra to my feet. I thought of it as if it was glue that was sticking my feet to the tree, and it did!" Naruto answered. Really, he hadn't had to think of it that way for years, but that was the way the original Sakura had told him it worked, and Sasuke and Sakura _were_ only genin after all.

"Good job, Naruto." came a voice from behind them at the edge of the clearing he had led Sasuke and Sakura to. Naruto turned around and smiled at Kakashi, but Sakura jumped and Sasuke even pulled a kunai from his belt. Naruto rose an eyebrow at the latter's reaction, but Sasuke put his kunai away and acted like he hadn't moved. He decided that he'd talk to Sasuke about it later. The reaction was a little over the top, even if he was still tense after the fight with Zabuza. He should have recognized Kakashi's voice before his reflexes kicked in. Anyway…

"Thanks, sensei!" He grinned. He was glad to see Kakashi up and well, if still on crutches. The pale Jounin hobbled into the light of the clearing with the grace of a cat and he came up behind Naruto to ruffle his hair. The motion was nostalgic to him. So much so, that he nearly missed Kakashi's words.

"-training. Naruto is right about the method for climbing trees, but it's a whole different matter to walk on water. Now, I'm actually still supposed to be in bed, but if you guys manage this trick, then I'll teach you how to walk on water before we leave."

"Really?" Sakura asked, excited about something other than Sasuke for once. Kakashi nodded solemnly. Both Sasuke and Sakura returned his nod seriously and turned to their trees to begin training. Naruto was about to do the same, but, as he moved, Kakashi called him out.

"Naruto, I need you to come with me to help guard Tazuna."

Naruto huffed, but followed his teacher with a small wave of farewell to his friends. Once they were a good ways away from the clearing, Kakashi stopped and plopped down against a large tree. After creating a clone to ensure they were alone, Naruto did the same.

"Are you alright, Kakashi?"

Kakashi nodded and sighed. "I'm never going to get used to someone less than half my age calling me by my given name, you know."

"I can stop if you want."

"No. If I let you call me that before, it means you earned my respect. I won't take that from you."

There was silence for a moment, before Naruto spoke again. "You're a good man. I never got the chance to tell you that before."

Kakashi looked curious. "What stopped you?"

"You died." Naruto said flatly. He looked up at Kakashi's expression and laughed for a moment. "Don't worry sensei. You were brought back to life, and you were still alive by the time that I left my time period. And after that, it was just, never a good time, I guess. It's hard to explain. One of these days, I'll sit down with a couple of people and explain everything. I just have to do a few things first."

"Aa. I guess I'll have to be content with that."

Naruto grinned at Kakashi's put-out expression. "So, what did you call me out for? Surely you can handle guard duty with all the clones I left at the house?"

"Well, I figured I'd give you that excuse you wanted so you could go talk to them." Kakashi didn't mention the names, but it was obvious who he was talking about. Naruto caught the way Kakashi pointedly ignored his comment about the clones, but he didn't blame the man. There was something inherently miserable about being in a weakened state when you're a ninja; it wasn't fun.

"Thanks sensei."

"Just get a move on, and be careful. We don't need to lose you yet." The Jounin said.

"Such little faith!" Naruto teased.

"Yeah, Yeah." Kakashi pulled himself to his feet and hobbled off again without a backwards glance. Naruto smirked and jumped into the trees. It was the fastest route to the clearing.

**xXx**

The moment he stepped into the clearing, a senbon needle flew at him. Naruto caught it easily and sent it back at his attacker. Haku jumped down into a spattering of sunlight, his bearing wary and cautious. His mask was still on.

"You can come out too, Zabuza. I will not move to attack either of you during our meeting." Naruto offered up. He could sense the injured man resting against a tree not far away from Haku, apparently there to check him and his offer out.

Naruto knew that they would be wary and distrustful of anything he said, but he decided that being straightforward would be the best deal he could think of. He wasn't sure about revealing his identity as a time-traveler yet, but he could at least tell them what he wanted from them.

"You're more than you seem, little ninja." Zabuza said gruffly, doing his best to disguise his limp but only managing to shuffle along about as well as Kakashi had only a little while before. He made his way from the shadows of the mid-morning woods to Haku's side and crossed his palms over the hilt of the overly large sword that he stuck straight in the ground in front of him.

"I'm sure the Demon Brothers thought that as well, as soon as I was done with them."

Zabuza made an odd expression as if he were trying to raise one of his nonexistent eyebrows.

"You killed the Demon Brothers?"

"No, no! I told the older brother that I'd let them go if he told me what I wanted. I may have threatened the little brother's well-being along the way, but I kept my word. They were fairly honorable about the whole deal, too. Normally people try to kill you when you tie them up to trees, but they just bowed and left." Naruto shrugged, not having to force the nonchalance to his bearing. "I guess you find some good eggs in the whole lot once in a while.

The nonexistent eyebrow had risen even further as Naruto rambled on. "I suppose you're trying to tell us that your word is good."

Naruto noted that Zabuza used the word 'us' instead of 'me', which meant that he thought of Haku and himself as a team, rather than what had gone on the first time around with him trying to use Haku as a tool. Perhaps this alternate timeline would make some things easier on him after all, but, then again, he had no desire to go and jinx himself. Naruto nodded in answer to Zabuza's question.

"In a way, yes. I'd rather you just trust me right off, but I don't think that's an option."

"What is this proposition you have for us?" Haku asked.

_Ooh, pushy._ Naruto thought to himself. Haku was definitely still protective of Zabuza.

"Well, I know you probably don't much care for you missing-nin status, correct?"

Haku nodded warily after exchanging a glance with Zabuza.

"Good. Now, I can't say anything for the other villages, but I can have your missing-nin status in the Fire country ignored. Keep in mind that I can't exactly have it rescinded, because that might just start a war of sorts, and your crimes still stand, but you'd be able to walk around without having to wear a henge all the time. No Fire country ninja would be allowed to attack you for your status in the bingo book."

Zabuza's eyes narrowed at him. "And what would we have to do in return?"

"The only thing that I would ask is that you bring no harm to any Fire country resident or any of my personal comrades, who I will point out to you if this agreement should work out, unless attacked first, and that you two become mine and the Hokage's personal go-to people for the ninja underworld. Anything you feel is out of place or threatening happening beneath the surface, you bring to my attention. And, of course, you become my comrades, which means my protection is extended to you and anyone you believes truly needs the protection."

"And why do you think we would need your protection?" Zabuza asked, seemingly thinking over the terms. The fact that he'd asked this question first meant that he would probably not object to any of the other terms. But even though he'd expected this question, he was truly becoming irritated with being underestimated. Did he truly look so weak that, even in the ninja world, where anything could be lethal, he could not be seen as dangerous?

"You know, Zabuza, I am getting tired of being underestimated." He said wearily.

"Oh, shut up, brat. I know you're strong for a genin, to have deflected my blade like that and to have snuck up on Haku, but how do you expect me to think you can protect me?"

"True enough." Naruto popped open the top button on his vest casually. "But if you knew enough about my situation, you wouldn't even think as much. Very recently, I've fought Kakashi to a standstill. And I still don't have my former capabilities back up to par."

Zabuza rolled his eyes at him and smirked. "With all that bragging one would think you wanted me to ask you for a demonstration."

Naruto smirked in return and nodded. "Only for you to allow me to flare my chakra for a moment without any negative reaction from you two. I won't flare it enough for someone to come looking, but just enough for you to see…what I've got up my sleeve, so to speak."

"…fine." Zabuza said slowly.

"Alright, then."

It all happened in a moment. Naruto looked Zabuza in the eyes and grinned, just as he brought the roiling turmoil of the Kyuubi's chakra to the surface of his skin. His eyes bled red and his teeth and nails sharpened to points. He looked positively feral, and then…It was gone. And his observers' eyes were wide. Naruto believed the only reason they hadn't stepped back was because they were both familiar with Zabuza's own, special type of demon. But his demonstration was ended and his purpose was served; there was now a small spark of belief in his strength.

"You're a demon. A real demon." Zabuza said slowly, then he grinned as well, matching Naruto's baring of teeth. "A Bijuu? How many tails?"

"Nine."

"And you can control its chakra already? How old are you? Twelve, thirteen?"  
Naruto shook his head, moving his gaze to the ground. "No…It's a long story, and one I'll only tell if I'm sure you won't think I'm crazy." He moved to a spot about halfway between them and plopped down, crossing his legs in front of him. After a moment, Zabuza did the same, dragging his sword with him, probably eager to get his weight off his leg. Haku followed behind, but stayed standing. It didn't seem like it was because he distrusted Naruto that much, but rather that he was uncomfortable sitting in anyone's presence.

"And if you're sure you can trust us." Zabuza said wryly.

"Indeed."

"The way you word things makes you sound as if you're trying to play Shogi with half as many pieces as you should, Uzumaki-san." Haku said quietly.

Naruto started for a moment at the use of his name then laughed, remembering that it had been said a few times during the battle and that he'd actually introduced himself in his message to them. "Please call me Naruto. And, yes, it does seem like that. I'm planning and planning, but not everything is not working out exactly like it seems it should."

"Speaking of, it seems like we will have issues with this arrangement only too soon, if we agree to it, that is." Zabuza said casually. Naruto raised a blond eyebrow.

"You have my target. I am beholden to the person who hired me. I refuse to back out on a deal I have made. I am sure you will not just hand over the bridge-builder, and that creates a problem for both of us."

Naruto shook his head. He had almost been afraid that there was a problem more difficult to overcome, but this one could be solved easily.

"No, that isn't a problem."

"You can't mean to say that you will just hand over the bridge-builder." Zabuza said skeptically and with a bit of reproach in his voice.

"Oh, no. You have to understand me when I say that I don't go back on my word. I will not let harm befall Tazuna. However, you are not charged to be Gato's protector, are you?"

If Zabuza was surprised that Naruto knew who his contractor was, he didn't show it. The man shook his head.

"Good, then I will just get rid of him. If the money he offered you, which he isn't planning on giving you, by the way, is an issue, I'll just steal a safe of his or something and we'll be good, is that okay with you?"

Zabuza's eyes scrunched up in confusion for a moment. "What do you mean he isn't planning on giving me the money he promised me?"

"You haven't heard how he rounds up a bunch of thugs and takes out the people he hires that are a threat to him? Well, apparently, you're a threat. Man, if you took a contract from _him_ without knowing about that, I wanna know why you're giving _me_ such a hard time."

Zabuza looked amused, if not with a murderous twinge in his aura directed at Gato. "If what you say is true, then I _should_ be more careful with my dealings with you. But you must surely realize that, until I know for sure, I can't betray my client."

"Of course. How about this? When you show up to take Tazuna, we will fight, but neither I nor Kakashi will fight with deadly force unless deadly force is shown. You won't have to worry about my other teammates; they shouldn't be able to bring wither of you serious harm right now. At some point, I know Gato will show up. He will send goons to Tazuna's home to kidnap his family and then he will come to 'finish you off'."

"You seem awfully certain about these things. What would happen should none of what you predict occur?" Haku asked.

Naruto shrugged. "It will. But should it not, then you are free to try and kill us and take Tazuna anyway." He had a plan to make sure it happened even if this timeline did not plan to make it easy for him.

"You know you don't talk like a child." Zabuza said suddenly, after a few moments of silence.

"I know."

"You aren't one, are you?"

Naruto smirked bitterly. "In some ways, I've never been one, in my entire life."

"Will you elaborate, if we agree to your conditions?" Naruto could sense that their talk was almost through.

"…yes, I think I will. Do you plan on adding any conditions of your own?"

"Maybe." Zabuza shrugged. "But your conditions seem good enough for me. We will speak more after the dealings with Gato and the bridge-builder are settled. It would be nice to have a safe place for a while."

"It's always good to have a safe place." Naruto said in agreement. He stood slowly, signaling the end of the conversation.

Zabuza stood as well, though more stiffly and carefully than Naruto had. He nodded at the blond, who reciprocated the gesture, then turned his back and began to walk away. Naruto's eyes widened. Either Zabuza trusted him enough not to turn on a possible business partner, the man was very, _very_ confident in his abilities, or he was stupid. Not many ninja would turn their backs to a stranger. Naruto glanced at Haku, who was staring at him. The feminine looking boy gave a small bow and then followed after the older man.

Naruto sighed. Those two were going to be a handful.

**xXx**

"When do you want us to be at the bridge, Boss?" a voice said.

"Quarter past noon. The demon said he'd attack at noon, and the fight shouldn't last too long. By then, the demon and his brat should be worn down enough…"

The figure watching the proceedings from the dim shadows grinned, his whisker scars pulling back into a vulpine visage.

For once, something seemed to be going to plan, and he wouldn't even have to help it along its way.


	14. All According To Plan

**14**

"You _what_?" came a voice from the darkness of the night.

"I offered them lenience from their sentences as rogue ninja in return for services rendered to Konoha." A calmer, quieter voice replied to the loud exclamation.

"You don't have the authority to do that, Naruto!"

"Yes, I do." Naruto said firmly. "I've spoken to the Hokage at length about what I should need to do to avert the wars that afflicted my timeline. He has given me leave to make decisions in his name about rogue ninja without contacting him, amongst other things."

"But what about the council?"

"The Hokage doesn't need to talk to the council in regards to rogue ninja of other countries, Kakashi. He may not hold all the power in Konoha, but he sure holds quite a bit of it. Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

A sigh. "Can you trust them?"

"Yes."

"Then I suppose I must trust them as well."

A feral grin. "Indeed."

**xXx**

As Kakashi walked into the clearing, he was welcomed by a splash of water that threw sparkling droplets onto him and his clothes. Laughter reached his ears along with a whined:

"No fair, Naruto! You pushed me!"

Naruto grinned, still chuckling. "You should be able to catch yourself, no matter what, Sakura-chan!"

Kakashi pushed the last, low-hanging branch from his sightline and the amusing scene of his group of genin reached his eyes. He saw a drenched Sakura standing thigh-deep in water of the pond outside of Tazuna's hut. Sasuke bent from his place standing on the surface of the pond, to help her up, and, with seemingly no effort, Sakura regained her footing beside him. However, the thing that made Kakashi pause, more than the fact that two of his genin were standing on the ever-changing water's surface as steadily as any high-ranking chuunin, was the sight of Naruto, _sitting_ cross-legged on the surface in the middle of the pond.

He'd never seen anyone do that before. Sure, it was possible, controlling the output of chakra from a body's chakra points so thoroughly that multiple parts of the body could touch the water and not get wet. Kakashi had only ever seen it done with the hands and feet, which were the easiest parts of the body to manipulate chakra from, and he wouldn't have been surprised had it been a high-ranking ninja or a ninja from a clan that excelled in chakra control, such as the Hyuuga, but to see a genin, even if only just in body, do it so casually…it surprised him enough that he barely managed to cover it before his genin turned their heads to him. The smile he saw in Naruto's eyes, however, made him believe he had been discovered.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said in greeting. "Who's going with Tazuna today?"

"Sasuke, you, and I will go today." Kakashi said. At Naruto's nod, he continued. "Sakura, I want you to stay behind with Inari and his mother."

He had long set up a guard schedule, having already explained the fact that the hunter-nin who took Zabuza after their battle was actually a fake and Zabuza's accomplice. Sakura and Sasuke had not argued with him after that. And Naruto had taken advantage of their pliancy by suggesting to Kakashi who should go to the bridge this day.

"Hai! I'll see you all later, then." Sakura said as she made her way from the water's surface, waving a nonchalant farewell without turning.

"Well, shall we get moving?" Kakashi asked rhetorically.

As the boys followed him without a word, Kakashi let himself wander in his thoughts, trusting Naruto's clones, which had infested the area around Tazuna's home, to keep guard for the moment. The silver-haired Jounin was looking forward to that talk Naruto had promised him and he was hoping it would be soon. He thought for a second about the looks of grief and sadness that had been directed at Sasuke by Naruto just before he'd sunk into his two panic attacks. There had definitely been a strong bond between the two of them in Naruto's timeline, but Kakashi wasn't quite sure yet what had happened to it. And there was something that was bothering Sasuke; it might have something to do with Naruto with the way the Uchiha looked at him every so often.

Kakashi internally sighed. At least Sakura wasn't developing problems he couldn't handle. It seemed that the girl was even beginning to take her training seriously. He hadn't heard her go on a rant about Sasuke for a full week! Kakashi had decided that he would take the girl to Tsunade when the sannin visited the village again; he had noticed Sakura was very nearly the same as the woman in temperament. He nearly shivered at the thought.

He glanced up as they reached the porch of Tazuna's home. The man himself was standing in front of it, waiting for them. He waved at them and started walking down the path as they joined him. The man had lightened up since the battle with the Demon of the Mist. He had listened to Kakashi's advice and had abandoned his bottle of sake and he was now in a considerably better mood most of the time.

Inari was staring after them from a corner of the house as they left. Naruto waved at him and he went running. Inari had obviously gained something of a brotherly attraction towards Naruto, who had told Kakashi what had been said and done. The blond himself had confided that he was confused as to why the boy would admire him after he'd told him off, and Kakashi had laughed.

Kakashi walked on quietly as he noted Naruto's clones forming a tighter ring of security. The blond had warned him that there would be an attack on the residence, and had said that the ninja probably wouldn't be very skilled but that he would leave some of his clones just in case. As for the plan for what to do on the bridge, well, Naruto had been vague on that point.

"_Whatever you do, don't try to actually kill them, Kakashi."_

"_And if they try to actually kill me?" _He'd answered back sarcastically.

"_I'll deal with them if that happens."_

What was worse was that they were putting Sasuke in danger by not informing him of their plans. Kakashi glanced at Naruto for a second, who had pulled a bit in front of Sasuke, who was bringing up the rear of the group. Naruto bumped into Kakashi's shoulder casually enough, relaying his confidence in his plan; or rather the lack of need for worry.

**xXx**

Sasuke had been observing Naruto for the past week of the mission, and everything he saw made little to no sense. His mental health was suffering from it, too. The worst thing was that he didn't know why he had become so obsessed with Naruto all of a sudden.

The blond was obviously hiding something. Sasuke had seen the way Naruto analyzed situations and manipulated them to his will. He'd seen the easy confidence that came with every step. He'd seen the slow way that Naruto went about "learning" techniques, trying to help him learn them as well. And, most hauntingly, he'd seen the bits of pain that still remained in the blond's eyes every time he turned to look at him. It had been worse when the boy had had the panic attacks, but it was still there, that same look that Sasuke had seen in his own eyes after his brother had massacred his clan.

Every breath that Naruto took was concealing something, and Sasuke could see the fractures that were popping up in the blond's story. Sasuke was losing sleep over it, and he knew that that wasn't a good thing on this mission. But he couldn't help worrying about his only friend, the only person who had managed to make his way through his cold mask.

So, when Kakashi took him and Naruto for guard duty, but left Sakura (who was still obviously the weakest of the team), when he'd been sending Sakura alone for the last few days, it naturally made him wonder what was up. The feeling crawling up the back of his neck, he could feel the hairs rising. It was exactly like before, when Naruto and Kakashi had seemingly been waiting for that Zabuza character to show up.

Sasuke could feel his jaw clenching and forced himself to relax. If Naruto wouldn't come to him and tell him of his own free will, then Sasuke would force him to spill his secrets the moment they set foot back in Konoha. But for now… Well, the kunai and shuriken he'd purchased not too long ago would probably be useful.

**xXx**

It finally happened about four hours into guard duty on the bridge, about five after noon. As Naruto had just begun to worry that Zabuza and Haku would be late, the suddenly roiling mist banished his worries. For the longest second, he was reminded of the day that his time's Sasuke had been killed by Madara; it had been abnormally foggy that morning as well. The atmosphere made him tense.

**xXx**

The fog appeared slowly, so much so that he couldn't pinpoint when it first started to gather around the bridge. The hair on Kakashi's arms rose as his instincts urged him to go to his students. He had a bad feeling about this, even if he knew that Zabuza and his student _should_ just be putting on an act. But he trusted Naruto. He'd seen what the boy could do. And he could only hope that Naruto's deal with them worked out.

**xXx**

Sasuke looked around in anticipation. He had been right. Again. And Naruto hadn't told him anything. Again. The blond could be leading him to his death for all he knew.

He snapped his head around to face Naruto, suddenly furious.

"When we get back to Konoha, I want an explanation for all of this." He hissed.

Almost satisfyingly, Naruto jumped and turned to face him with a surprised expression. Then, rather unsatisfyingly, he smiled and nodded and turned back to observing the mist. But Sasuke heard the words that came under the blond's breath, obviously not meant to be heard by him.

"He never was slow to catch on. I hadn't expected it to last much longer anyway."

Sasuke puzzled over the words. That is, until a leg came flying at his face. On pure instinct reaction, Sasuke back-stepped and flipped so that he could turn his newly found backwards momentum into a kick at his attacker. The person maneuvered their kick so that their legs struck each other and the force of the blows sent them both away from each other by a few yards.

Sasuke was left with a numbed leg from the exchange as he waited for another attack.

"Sasuke!" Came the shout from Naruto.

"I'm fine. Where's Kakashi-sensei?"

"Here." The Jounin landed at his side.

**xXx**

Although Sasuke's comment has surprised him, Naruto made himself focus.

He'd already sent his clones to surround Tazuna. For some reason, the bridge was now eerily deserted. Making sure that Kakashi and Sasuke were within his sights, he directed his gaze at the thickest spot in the mist. It would all be up to Zabuza now; whether everyone won (except Gato) or whether Naruto just went ahead and dragged the both of them to Konoha's best intelligence operatives for betraying his trust.

He rolled his shoulders as Zabuza stepped from the mist…alone. And suddenly, Naruto knew what the Demon of the Mist was planning. He growled, searching the area around him quickly. A few paces to his right, he spotted Haku.

He watched as the noh-masked boy's foot swung towards Sasuke's face and he barely stopped himself from going to block the attack for his friend. He knew that he would not always be there to help Sasuke, and he had to make sure that the boy could take care of himself when he wasn't around.

Sasuke reacted admirably, blocking Haku's kick with his own and then creating space between them to give himself a moment to think. Naruto knew Haku would have attacked with senbon if Kakashi hadn't jumped to his student's side.

Naruto knew that Haku could have already begun a full-fledged fight with Sasuke. He also knew that Zabuza could have already done the same with either himself or Kakashi. That meant they were keeping to their deal. And that was the only reason why Naruto was clenching and unclenching his fists, trying to keep himself calm as he saw Sasuke shake out a numbed leg.

He hadn't realized how much seeing in Sasuke in a situation where he could be killed would affect him. He supposed it was normal, considering how he had reacted when the Demon Brothers had attacked them, but he couldn't really tell that to his shaking hands, now could he?

"How are we going to do this?" Kakashi asked Zabuza, who had come forward to Haku's side.

"We fight, of course." Zabuza said, with a side glance to Naruto. "I don't care much for Tazuna at the moment."

Naruto nodded at the man. All of a sudden he had the strongest urge to make sure his plan was running smoothly. He sent one of his clones to scout the area surrounding the bridge; above, below, and at both ends.

As soon as he did, Zabuza rushed Kakashi, which surprised Naruto. Zabuza's style was the silent kill, which was usually opposite of rushing at your enemy head on. Obviously, this surprised Kakashi and Sasuke as well, as they both jumped apart.

At the same time, Haku began throwing his senbon needles at Sasuke, who dodged as he pumped his feet full of chakra and began to make his way through and around the projectiles towards Haku. He was handling himself well.

Naruto stayed where he was, ready to aid his teammates should the deal be broken. He ached to fight with them, never before feeling so acutely the urge to use his strength as he did now. He saw Sasuke and Haku practically dancing just above the surface of the wet bridge, exchanging blows evenly, without ever seemingly taking a breath. He saw Zabuza raining powerful blows upon his teacher, and saw Kakashi wipe them off as if he were just in an everyday spar.

He recognized the power of all four genius' standing in front of him and he suddenly felt like he had cheated them. He'd lived nine years that they would never experience. He'd fought through a war they would probably never know, if he had any hand in it at all. It had been a harder war than any of them, even Zabuza and Kakashi, would ever know. And he had the experience of more than a thousand years with the Kyuubi living inside him. He was manipulating their lives as if he were a puppet master.

He hated himself for that. He felt Kyuubi send calming feelings through their bond. He was almost surprised by her action, seeing as she had been sleeping on and off for long periods of time lately, not being able to function with so much of Naruto's old chakra as well as the Yondaime Hokage's old seal still up and functioning.

_I don't know what to do, Kyuu._

_**I know, Kit. But you should just do what feels right to you.**_

_That's what's giving me issues. _Naruto smiled bitterly.

_**Just follow the plan for now. When we all get back to the village, you can decide who you'll tell there. Sasuke's already demanded an explanation. Soon, you won't be alone with this anymore.**_

Naruto smiled again. _I've never been alone, Kyuu._

_**I'm glad to hear that.**_

Suddenly a shiver went down his spine. A picture of black eyes, Uchiha eyes, flashed through his mind. A twinge in his chest told him that one of his clones had been killed by the jab of a kunai through the heart.

_**I hope that's not who I think it is.**_

_Unfortunately, I think it is._

Kyuubi didn't bother to wonder why Uchiha Itachi was watching their battle from one end of the bridge, and neither did Naruto. The only thing Naruto did was immediately switch places with a clone and leave.

**xXx**

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked bluntly, stepping out from the still thickening mist to join Sasuke's elder brother at the end of the bridge. The blond had the pleasure of seeing Itachi taken aback at his entrance, although the man was hardly surprised.

"I don't suppose that's any of your business… whoever you are." Itachi said smoothly, not one to let an unexpected appearance take his wits from him.

"It is if Akatsuki is targeting your brother."

This time, Itachi was speechless. Naruto tried to imagine himself being an elite- rogue- ninja, and having a genin walk up to you and start talking about an S-class secret. He didn't think he'd react well either. So, when Itachi's eyes flickered red, he jumped away from the spot he'd been standing in.

"Who are you?" came a deadly voice from beside his ear just after he landed. Naruto stiffened at the feel of a blade pressed to the back of his neck. After a moment of silence, he spoke, his voice becoming more irritated with the situation as he continued.

"Uzumaki Naruto. A Jinchuuriki. Sasuke's friend. An ally. Distrust me if you want, but don't let your brother suffer for it, damn it! Why is Akatsuki targeting him!"

There was silence, then…

"How do you know we're not targeting you?" Itachi said.

"Because you would have already attacked me while my other teammates were occupied."

"…"

A clone of Itachi came from the trees, not far from them, to stand in front of him, presumably to see his reactions. "How are you so sure that I care so much about my brother that I would come to protect him." The clone asked in the same monotone that had sounded from behind him. Naruto met the Uchiha's eyes brazenly. He could tell that that action in and of itself had unsettled Itachi at least a little bit. Naruto had made sure Itachi knew that Naruto knew who he was, after all.

"I never said that you had come to protect him." Naruto grinned at the expression that could almost be called dismay on the clone's face. He'd never imagined that The Uchiha Itachi could be caught in a simple word trap. Or that the man was just as expressive as Sasuke was if you looked in the right places. Then again, Naruto hadn't really cared about the man's emotions until after his death.

"What do you know?" Itachi asked before pulled his knife from Naruto's neck and sent the clone back to the trees.

"About what?"

"Akatsuki."

"Everything. The members, their agendas, everything. I know you. And I know that you are trying to protect your brother, but I don't know what from."

"And what do you think you know about me? You, little more than a child." Itachi's voice had a bite to it, but he doubted he would have been able to hear it had he not known the man before this time.

"This child knows that you massacred your family to stop a coup d'état. That the people innocent of the coup had already been killed when you arrived. All but Sasuke. And you manipulated his memories to reflect your 'crime' after you killed the real criminals. And now you are only among Akatsuki under the Third Hokage's orders."

"Only Hokage have access to that knowledge."

"And me, it seems. Now, tell me. Is Akatsuki targeting Sasuke! Why!" Naruto growled out, quickly becoming irritated with the man's stubbornness. He had a battle to get back to.

Itachi clearly hadn't been expecting any of this, but Naruto didn't have the time to deal with him. He growled aloud.

"Fine, think it over. Find me after this fight is over. I'll make sure I'm alone for a while."

At this, Naruto jumped away into the mist. He was now irritated and stressed. Whatever Akatsuki had planned had spooked Itachi enough to make him come play bodyguard for his brother. And if it spooked Itachi then it spooked him.


	15. Not According To Plan

**15**

The moment Naruto stepped back onto the bridge was the same moment that one of his clones alerted him of Gato's arrival. He nearly jumped in surprise at the suddenness of the dispersion of his clone, but all he could think about was stopping the mock battle taking place already.

"Zabuza, Haku. He's here." The two of them jumped back together, landing not five steps from him. Kakashi raised an eyebrow and Sasuke looked at him questioningly. He shook his head.

"Do you want to take them out? Or shall I?" Zabuza, who had been consulting Haku as to whether they were actually there or not, since Gato's mercenaries were not visible yet and Haku was evidently a better chakra sensor than he was (an interesting fact to know), turned to face him after receiving an affirmative.

"Do as you like. I won't kill my employer unless he goads me to."

Naruto smiled. _Oh, he'll goad him to, alright._

_**Go after that weasel from behind, Naruto. Let's run him into his own demon's maw.**_

_That would be rather ironic, wouldn't it?_

"Kakashi-sensei!" He jumped to land next to him and Sasuke.

"Gato has brought mercenaries to kill us all with. Shall we take care of them, or shall we run him to Zabuza?" He asked to maintain a semblance of hierarchy in front of Sasuke; he already knew what Kakashi would choose.

"I won't do all of Zabuza's dirty work." Kakashi said before running towards the woods that Naruto pointed to, almost bouncing as he went. The blond stared for a moment, never having seen his sensei so giddy. The man must really dislike Gato…Or Zabuza had hit his head too hard during their spar. Shaking his head, he reached to grab Sasuke's wrist and pulled the boy with him as he followed his sensei's footsteps. As he ran, he spoke to Sasuke.

"I'll explain everything as soon as I can, Sasuke, I swear."

"I know you will. Because if you don't, I'll make you." Sasuke said, glaring at Naruto impressively. Naruto grinned, hiding it by observing the surroundings to his left. Sasuke had a backbone. In his old time, no one would question him, even the old Sasuke, who had only just begun to come out of his shell again when he was killed.

_This is the Sasuke I want to keep alive. _

_**Just don't keep secrets from him for too long. Not yours or his own.**_

_I know._

Naruto dropped Sasuke's arm, which he'd apparently still been dragging the boy along by. They reached the wooded area at the end of the bridge easily. Itachi was no longer there, Naruto noticed. Once they breached the line of trees, they turned to circle around Gato's company.

**xXx**

Sakura nearly fell from her perch in her haste to stand as the hairs on the back of her neck rose. She shivered, though it was not from the cold. The tree she sat in gave her a bird's eye view of Tazuna's house, although Inari and his mother were on the dock, hanging laundry to dry and were temporarily out of sight. She had figured that she would be able to see any intruders, but something felt out of place.

Jumping to the ground, Sakura jogged around the house and made her way through the trees to the dock. She didn't hear either of the house's inhabitants' voices, so she pulled out her kunai.

It turned out, as she crept around the last obstructing corner, that she was right to be wary. There were two men, not ninja, though they looked like hired goons, just finishing up with tying up Inari's mother, Tsunami. One of them held Inari himself upside down by his foot, and the boy was thrashing around, trying to remove the hand on his mouth.

There was a cast iron frying pan lying on the ground a few feet away, which Inari had presumably attacked them with. Carefully, Sakura formed the hand signs she needed and then she jumped into action, not noticing that she was doing something she never done before. She was acting like a true Leaf ninja.

**xXx**

Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi rounded up Gato's mercenaries fairly easily. The men could hardly be considered ninja and they didn't even see Naruto, Sasuke, or Kakashi until it was too late.

Naruto threw himself down into the clearing showily and launched a paper bomb at the nearest tree. Moments later, with a loud boom, the tree fell into splinters and heavy branches. Gato's men fled, right along the path Naruto had urged them towards. He heard Kakashi and Sasuke doing the same to his left and right and he grinned ferally, taking pleasure in seeing the process of Gato receiving his just dues.

Quickly, he outpaced Gato's men and made his way to the bridge, seeing Haku and Zabuza patiently waiting. He slowed his steps until he came to a stop in front of them. Zabuza was looking out at the fog-laden water. He had an uncertain look to his face, as if he knew what they were doing and was unsure if his inaction could be considered as betraying his employer. Haku just stood by the man's side, his body language screaming serene and calm. The two of them turned questioning looks to Naruto when they registered his presence.

He threw a thumb over his shoulder, pointing at the trees behind him in explanation, just as Gato's hired hands came running from them with Sasuke and Kakashi on their heels.

Gato, although his short legs would usually ensure his being the last of the group, was currently in the lead. But then he saw Zabuza, and all the blood in his face drained away. He dug in his heels and ordered the men to stop with a yell. After a look at what laid ahead of them, his men quickly obeyed.

The cowardly man, and stupid if what he was about to say had any weight, brought himself together before he yelled in Zabuza, Haku, and Naruto's direction, trying to defend himself by placing the blame onto someone else. Unfortunately, that someone was already displeased by the mere presence of the man, and Gato's words only stroked Zabuza's ire.

"So you are a traitorous fool after all, Momochi!"

"Those words seem to be more suited for yourself, little man!" Zabuza barked. He swung his sword to his shoulder, affecting a very aggressive stance. "What's with your group of goons?"

Gato, suddenly understanding that his very presence was the only thing that was now causing a very _hale and healthy_ Zabuza to turn on him, paled further and swayed on his feet. He paused, considering his options. Then the man signed his own death writ. He turned to his hired guards, nearly two hundred strong, and gave them their orders.

"Attack!"

**xXx**

Her attack was over within seconds, leaving her breathless and very proud of herself, regardless of the fact that her opponents had been weaklings. Inari and Tsunami were fine and the two men who had attacked them were tied up in their place. The mother and son were clutching each other, and she'd just finished searching the two men, divesting them of their weapons as she'd seen Naruto do with the Demon Brothers.

She wondered if the rest of her team needed any help, but she immediately discarded the idea of leaving Tsunami and Inari alone at this house, while there could be any number of enemies coming to help these two men. Suddenly, she realized that she was all alone at this moment. And it didn't really scare her.

She was a ninja, and now? She'd taken out two full grown men by herself. She was proud of her status. She no longer wanted to be a kunoichi with a ninja husband to show off around the village. She wanted to be a help to her team on a mission. And she would, once she made sure her client's family was safe.

"Tsunami-san. Inari-kun. Please come with me. I need to make sure you make it safely to town before I go to my team."

Tsunami looked up with watering eyes. "We can get some of the townsmen to go with you." She offered.

"No. This is a fight between ninja. Regular citizens shouldn't get involved." Sakura said, remembering the rule from her studies. When people without chakra interfered with a battle between ninja…well. It wasn't pretty and it usually resulted in a lot more bloodshed than intended. "Come on. We need to go now."

They left after gathering up some essentials in case the house was further attacked while they were gone and made it to the town within the next fifteen minutes without incident. By then, Sakura was becoming more and more jumpy. She left the two of them at one of Tsunami's closer friends' houses and made her way quickly to the bridge, which was still further away than she wished.

Sakura ran hard, along the worn path paved on either side by the thick growth of trees, not stopping for a moment until she heard the unmistakable sound of movement off to her right. Alerted, and already on the look-out for suspicious behavior around her, she dove into the nearest thicket of shrubs and tried to still her jumping heart.

The world around her was silent for a moment, then…

"Why is Gato having us circle around?" A complaining voice asked. It was clearly followed by the sound of a blade cutting through underbrush and hanging vines and branches. Sakura held her breath. They were only a few feet away from her and…yes; if she peered through at just the right angle…she could see the boots of at least fifty men, trekking through the forest. And moving towards the bridge at a moderate pace.

"Shut up!" She nearly jumped at the voice that came from close beside her. "We're here because we're getting paid. He wants us to ensure Zabuza and his brat die and so we will. I don't want to hear your complaining!"

"Whoever put you in charge, Shinoda!" another member of the group said loudly.

"Nobody, idiot. But I, for one, want to get paid more than I want to hear complaints. Unless you want to see the sharp end of my wires."

The odd threat that ended that statement sent a shiver through Sakura, and it silenced the rest of the group.

She couldn't see the man, but the way he had worded the threat made her suspect his weapon specialty was razor wire. If that was true, she was almost certain he was a ninja, because razor wire was something that was really only ever _used_ by ninja, who could manipulate its conductive properties and had the reflexes necessary to handle the long, sharp weapon without harming themselves. This would make the third ninja she knew of besides Zabuza and his partner who Gato had hired. And if her suspicion was correct, then this was the man whose strength Gato relied upon the most, judging by how he was entrusted with men to conduct what she suspected was an ambush. That made this man very dangerous.

Though she waited for more to be said, the silence carried on until the group of men had passed her. Slowly, she worked her way back onto the road and jumped into the trees that lined the other side. She wanted to stay away from that group and get to the bridge before they did. That meant she'd have to put her recent training to use and use the trees.

**xXx**

Somehow, Naruto was sure Gato had back-up goons coming to assist him. There was no way that the original two-hundred men could be upright after a fight with five trained and talented ninja. Not after fifteen minutes. Not even after five.

Granted these men were not completely useless. In numbers, they were quite effective in their attacks; they'd managed to give him some viciously stinging cuts, too. That said, he himself had broken the limbs of and incapacitated at least forty men. He'd killed five.

He was sure that Kakashi and Zabuza had taken care of that many, maybe even twice over. And Haku and Sasuke were hardly lightweights. So how else could there be almost a hundred men still standing and fighting? They must have been coming from the cover of the trees.

He could see Gato a little ways off, just outside the tree-line, standing with crossed arms and a smug look on his face, even as he watched Naruto drive his elbow into the back of a man's neck with more than enough force to knock him out and slice open another man's leg with his kunai.

Zabuza was a little ways off, cutting a swathe through his opponents, although they had learned enough by now to stay out of his sword's range and attack with long-range weapons, not that that was slowing their death rate any. Kakashi was nowhere to be seen. He was probably taking care of stragglers who decided they'd had enough of the battlefield they'd created.

He'd seen his other teammate every so often, flitting among the enemy like a deadly kunai, causing snaps and spurts of blood wherever he went, although it seemed the boy wasn't aiming for kill spots (which Naruto was glad for; he never wanted to see a bloodthirsty Sasuke again). It also seemed as though Sasuke and Haku had taken a liking to covering each other's backs, and although he wasn't sure who had made the first move in that strategy, it was a good one and he was glad that Sasuke wasn't going to get stabbed from behind anytime soon. There were dozens of senbon needles sticking out of many of the bodies that littered the ground.

Creating four clones so he could back off and take a moment to look around, Naruto worried over Gato's influence stretching so far as to allow him to hire so many men. It was a small army and they weren't backing off very easily either, which meant they were being paid very well. That thought brought another to mind, though. If their employer was dead, would they still this risk fighting?

Nodding to himself, Naruto jumped above the not-small group of mercenaries towards Gato, whose eyes widened at the change of strategy. The man yelled something, but Naruto couldn't quite make it out. Then, as the man raised his arm and pointed at him, the blond figured it out. A small cloud of kunai and shuriken was aimed at him from behind the trees and he found himself unable to direct himself out of their path, stuck in mid-air.

Quickly, he pulled out another kunai with his other hand, and with both hand duly armed, he managed to block and parry most of the weapons, but two kunai and twice as many shuriken slipped past his guard, the kunai sticking deep in the flesh of his thigh and shoulder and the shuriken nicking his limbs and drawing blood. He was forced to retreat back into the crowd of mercenaries to lick his wounds. Kakashi was by his side in a moment, just as he was pulling one of the kunai from his thigh.

"Are you alright?" He didn't sound overly worried, but he covered Naruto from the mercenary attacks so he could recover.

"Yeah, fine. I just didn't think he'd hired any ninja besides Zabuza and Haku. He doesn't seem like the type who trusts ninja. But, there are at least two of them staying back behind the tree-line over there." Naruto pointed. Kakashi looked and nodded.

"Right. I'll get them. Keep an eye on things here. I don't like this situation. Gato isn't as stupid as we thought."

Kakashi was gone before he could reply, and Naruto, suddenly incensed, threw one of his kunai into the crowd of mercenaries violently. A man dropped. Naruto couldn't understand what he'd missed. When he'd snuck into Gato's stronghold, Gato had mentioned no more than fifty mercenaries for the ambush. What had happened? Had the shipping magnate simply changed his mind at the last second? Or had someone warned him of their preparations against his attack?

_Damn it!_ He cursed. He felt Kyuubi shift. She was awake.

_**What's wrong?**_ She asked, sleepily. He could practically feel her carding through his memories as she caught up with the situation.

_I don't know! This damn timeline is screwed up._

_**Calm down, Kit. All we need to do is take Gato down, right? Then we can just-**_

She was interrupted by the sounds of explosions all around them. The trees from the place Kakashi had just jumped to exploded outwards, preceded by Kakashi himself, who all but ran on four limbs in his hurry. Simultaneously, at the other side of the small battlefield, more explosions were followed by the entrance of Sakura, who was nearly the last person he had expected to see. She was wreaking havoc with her paper bombs, but she ran out of them within seconds. It was all too soon; she'd only managed to take a good quarter of their enemy out with her surprise attack.

He quickly made his way through the crowd, stabbing and slicing all the while, towards Kakashi and Sakura, who had managed to find each other quickly enough. Kakashi looked a little frazzled at almost being blown up, but he was okay. Sakura, on the other hand, looked like hell. Her clothes had cuts and tears all over them and she was covered by dirt. She was panting and looked to be on the verge of crying in relief.

He made it to their side just as she began to explain her presence. "-and Inari back in the town. But when I was coming here… I saw another group of mercenaries. I think they're Gato's. They were on their way to ambush the bridge I think. And they had at least one ninja with them!" Sakura gasped out.

At the same time, Naruto pushed her back against the side of the bridge and parried a sword swipe from an enemy behind her. The man received a stab to his liver for the attempt. He was pulled back by the other mercenaries to get him out of the way. Sakura grabbed his shoulder and squeezed it in gratitude. He just kept his eyes focused on the now-more-wary mercenaries.

"How many, Sakura?" Kakashi asked, a little breathless himself.

"At least…at least fifty, sensei." She answered quickly.

"Damn it!" At that bit of information, Naruto swore aloud. Quickly, he summoned three clones and sent them to Sasuke, Haku, and Zabuza to inform them of this development and to help them fight. "Kakashi-sensei, what happened to the ninja in the trees?"

"I think they're down, but I can't be sure. The bombs weren't mine; I think they backfired on them."

"Let's hope." Naruto replied under his breath.

"Sakura, stay with me. Cover my back, alright?"

"Right, sensei." Sakura confirmed, pulling out a kunai. She took a deep breath and gripped it tightly, ready to fight once Naruto moved out from in front of her. Naruto met Kakashi's eyes.

"I'll go after Gato." Naruto murmured as he went darting away.

There was no time to waste.

**xXx**

Sasuke had been fighting non-stop for what felt like hours, but he knew it had only been twenty minutes at the most. A man would attack, he would reply with a slash of his kunai, and that man would pull back to let his fresh comrades in on the action. He'd felt the senbon needles flying past his head often enough, accompanied with screams of pain, and he knew that Haku was covering his back. He'd returned the favor more than once and Sasuke knew, from the moment Gato had shown up, that they were no longer enemies.

But still, the fight was never-ending. He had taken so many men down, it wasn't even funny. He'd never been in the midst of a battle before, but he had a sneaking suspicion that just because one's perception of time changed, it didn't mean that the perception of the number of enemies did.

And he didn't think the number of enemies was dropping by much at all. So, the moment he heard the news from Naruto's clone (the confirmation of his suspicions and the impending arrival of more back-up), Sasuke knew he had to act. He flagged down Haku and outlined his plan. Haku looked unsure but, seeing the sense of the plan, agreed.

They left the battlefield to attack Gato's back-up team.

**xXx**

Naruto had gained four new, shallow, stinging, _irritating_ wounds on his body by the time he got within twenty feet of Gato. He wished he had taken the time when he was near Kakashi to bandage the kunai wounds on his thigh and shoulder, but he had needed to hurry. Now, his bloodied clothes stuck to his skin and blood was rolling in slow rivulets down his right leg. He cursed colorfully in his thoughts.

He had already hated Gato, but now…well…Naruto _really_ wanted to kill the man. Which, considering how easily he'd made his way to the man, should be easy enough. He stabbed the last man that stood between him and his mark in the kidney, and the man fell down, silently screaming all the way. Scanning the trees behind the man for the ninja who had been there earlier, he saw nothing, and he approached predatorily.

Gato spotted him and began to back up warily. Naruto smirked and let Kyuu's chakra bubble into his eyes, turning them into slits. Gato began to slide down the tree he'd pressed himself against. He could hear Kyuu's savage laughter in the darker corners of his mind. He felt like joining her. The first time he'd met the man, he'd wanted to kill him for disgracing Haku's body. Now he could.

But he was not so inhumane as to torture a man on his deathbed with dramatics. He would only draw it out if there was something important at stake and, right now, there was more of a reason to kill Gato quickly and get rid of his goons than to draw the man's death out.

So, without further ado, Naruto slit the man's throat.

It was only then, of course, as Gato lay there at his feet with his already-gray skin paling further as blood escaped from his death-wound, that the clones he had sent to Haku and Sasuke decided to dismiss themselves and make it known that the two boys were making their way to intercept a possibly dangerous group by themselves.

Which, by the way, Gato could have told him (read: been forced to tell) the whereabouts of.

_Fuck!_

**xXx**

"If they were planning on ambushing us, like your kunoichi said, they must have been planning on coming from this side." Haku stated as he and Sasuke ran away from the bridge and towards the town, checking over every square inch of forest between it and the fighting. "The fight on the bridge has moved towards the middle of the bridge and they can't have planned to come from the mainland so maybe they had planned for the fight to migrate towards land more than stay on the bridge."

"And Gato's main group came from the south, so they must be coming from the north. Sakura couldn't have beat them by that much time, so they should be somewhere around-" Sasuke broke off as the high-pitched sound of what he recognized to be razor wire whipped around in front of him and Haku.

"Get down!"

He tugged at Haku's sleeve and pulled the boy down with him just as the wire cut clean through the two trees in front of them. He cursed as he realized it was being reinforced by chakra. Suddenly, there was a half-circle of what he suspected were more mercenaries in front of them and the ring-leader seemed to be the man up-front and center, holding a long strand of razor wire in gloved hands.

"It seems we've run into two of our targets a bit ahead of schedule, men. Let's take care of them." He said, eyeing Sasuke's headband and all but ignoring Haku, having seen no marks claiming him to be a ninja.

Sasuke saw glares directed at the man, but none of the fifty or so men objected. A hand on his arm drew his attention back to his companion. Haku had removed his mask to breathe easier after they'd left the fighting, and his feminine features were disconcerting, but Sasuke forced himself to remember the way the boy's kick had numbed his leg earlier. There was no mistaking that Haku wasn't strong.

"Can you handle the ninja? I'll take out the rest." The boy said. Sasuke looked back at the group for a moment before nodding slowly. "Okay, get back, then. Go!" Haku added when Sasuke looked confused for a moment. Sasuke quickly moved back and away, however, when he saw Haku form an unknown hand sign. The boy said something quietly under his breath, and suddenly the air around him froze. Sasuke saw mirrors of ice begin to form around their attackers and, as he backed further away to avoid being entrapped by them as well, Sasuke gasped.

He recognized it for what it was- a kekkei genkai- the moment Haku stepped back and merged with the mirrors. The older boy's appearance could be seen in every one of the mirrors, and suddenly he began showering the inhabitants of his trap with senbon needles. Sasuke could tell that Haku was not merely shooting from the mirrors, but rather moving rapidly from one mirror to the next and shooting the needles as he moved. Of course, the Uchiha could only just barely tell the boy was moving, and he knew that the non-ninja mercenaries thought that mere reflections were their attacker. Haku would have no problems.

Himself, on the other hand, he wasn't so sure of.

As he'd backed away and past the barrier of their attackers, so had the ninja leader of the group. The man was staring at Sasuke, readying himself to throw his wire. Sasuke crouched, making a smaller target of himself. He slowly inched his hands towards the pouch at his waist. Not unfamiliar with using wire as a weapon, he always carried gloves to handle it, but he didn't have time to reach them before the man attacked.

The wire itself was thin and metallic, hard to see in the gloom of the forest. Sasuke barely saw it before the length was upon him. It was aimed low, for his legs, and he jumped up and forwards, knowing that the man could easily cut him apart if he chose only to jump upwards. Instead of waiting for the man to pull back his weapon, Sasuke threw two shuriken at the wire, hoping to pin it to a tree, but he had no such luck. The man just twitched the fingers of his right hand and the wire jumped up to cut his shuriken to pieces. Sasuke's eyes widened and he retreated quickly, ducking under the wire this time as it was pulled back.

It took a few hairs with it.

"So you realize it's reinforced, now, right?" The man asked him lazily, coiled the wire as he spoke. "I wouldn't suggest touching it if I were you." He grinned, and cast his wire yet again, using his right hand to control smaller movements and his left to reel it back in.

Sasuke's eyes widened. This time, he couldn't see the wire at all.


	16. Minor Relief

…_without further ado, Naruto slit the man's throat._

_It was only then, of course, as Gato lay there at his feet with his already-gray skin paling further as blood escaped from his death-wound, that the clones he had sent to Haku and Sasuke decided to dismiss themselves and make it known that the two boys were making their way to intercept a possibly dangerous group by themselves. _

_Which, by the way, Gato could have told him (read: been forced to tell) the whereabouts of._

Fuck!

**16**

Naruto panicked, and as he did, cut his own bloody swath through the enemy back to Kakashi.

"Sasuke and Haku went after the back-up team." He shouted once he was close enough. "Find Zabuza! I'll take them all out at one time!" He was mad enough not to care that he'd wouldn't be able to help fight anymore after he did it, though. But then again, two Jounin should be able to handle the rest. Hopefully.

"What are you planning?" He heard Zabuza ask in a rough voice. He turned to see the man's approach out of the corner of his eye. Zabuza wasn't even out of breath and barely had a scratch on him.

"Watch and see. Hold them off for a second." Naruto said, backing the group up so that they were on the edges of the battle zone. It seemed that most of the mercenaries didn't even realize where their targets were, but were just waiting for their turn. For a moment he wondered when they'd realize their boss was dead, then he turned his attention inward, not paying attention to anything but Kyuu.

_I need you to push your chakra against the seal._

_**Are you sure?**_

_No, but this will happen sooner or later. It might as well happen now and let us make sure Sasuke stays alive._

…_**Alright.**_ Kyuu sounded unsure, and worried, but she agreed with Naruto.

He visualized Kyuu's seal. It was no longer in the waterlogged sewer it had been in his childhood, but rather something like a wooden cage that held high-standing officials and daimyo. But then again, it was still a cage.

The seal itself lay on a square of wood in the middle of the cage, the fine rice paper only just beginning to crumble at the edges. He materialized a kunai into his hand and moved closer to the seal.

_I only need a little chakra. We can finish it later, alright?_

_**Alright.**_

Naruto then used his kunai and poked it into the center of the seal, leaving a small hole. Nothing happened for a moment and then…

As if the chakra had been flushed into his system, pain washed through him, and his body burned with Kyuu's chakra.

Immediately, he exited his mindscape and pushed his hands together. Consciously keeping the pain from his voice, he shouted to his teammates, who had taken up guarding positions for him. Sakura was already at his back, but Kakashi and Zabuza were right in his line of fire.

"Move behind me!" Naruto warned. The two men both jumped at the suddenness of his voice, but after exchanging looks, they did as he said.

So far, the mercenaries had been too wide spread for any kind of jutsu to be used with any real effect, but if he was willing to burn up his chakra, he could take the remaining hundred or so out in one go. He took a dear moment to muse at how glad he was he'd created so useful a jutsu, then he gathered his chakra.

"Kaze Kakuheki!" He shouted the name this time, as the burning chakra left him rapidly. His wind barrier encircled the entire width of the bridge, and even a bit further, starting inches in front of him and extending outwards in a circle. Even to him it was impressive; he rarely ever made it so large. It was semi-visible even though it was nearly translucent, extending upwards of twenty feet. It encircled the mercenaries and he allowed the walls to moderately slice at the skin and clothes of those who were foolish or daring enough to touch it, once again allowing it to slowly close in upon its captives.

Once the wall corralled them into a tight circle, he used his other jutsu, Kuuhaku, to suck to air from the barrier. He was unwilling to create a massacre in front of Sakura's young eyes, and while he had other jutsu he could use to capture, he didn't want to reveal his knowledge of them. So he used ones he knew Kakashi and Sakura already knew he knew and decided to wow Zabuza while he was at it.

So complicated, this time-travel thing.

He released both the jutsu once he was sure all the mercenaries were unconscious and he backed against the side of the bridge, breathing hard, watching the mercenaries fall to the ground bonelessly, one at a time. He had never focused Kyuu's chakra in this body, and it left his nerves tingling unpleasantly. He felt sick.

He heard a whistle. "Damn kid. That was a pretty interesting sight. Now I really want to know the details."

Naruto figured Zabuza was talking about his offer and he was glad that the man had enough sense to not speak about it in front of Kakashi and Sakura. Although Kakashi knew the gist of the deal already, he didn't want to have to explain anything more than he had to. He just allowed his lips to smirk in mild amusement at the man's compliment. When he didn't say anything in response to Zabuza, though, the quietest member of the group so far spoke up.

"Naruto? Are you okay?" He heard Sakura ask. He sighed and straightened up.

"Yeah, fine. We need to find Sasuke and Haku. Fast."

"Where did they go, anyway?" Zabuza asked with a growl.

"They left to find the back-ups my clone told you about." Naruto said, taking a soldier pill from his pouch. He grimaced. He hated the pills; they made you feel like you had energy when you really didn't, and there was hell to pay when they wore off. But he needed the energy now. He swallowed the pill and waved his hand at the group. He only hoped they'd find the two boys before something _else_ happened.

**xXx**

Sasuke had been surprised at the initial movement of the wires. He'd been dodging them with all his focus for the last few minutes and could still barely see them, but he'd found that when he focused completely, when he ignored all other sounds and happenings around him and focused in on only the enemy and weapon in front of him, he could see the glint of the wire just a little bit easier.

The man in front of him seemed to be growing more anxious. Maybe he'd heard the gradual decrescendo of his men's voices from across the clearing. Maybe he'd never had an opponent last this long. Sasuke didn't care. He focused only on the man and his weapon.

His eyes itched as he parried the wire and wove around trees to close in on his opponent. His kunai gained another chip in the metal, but he managed to keep it from fracturing totally this time; he'd had to throw four down already in their ruined states.

The whistle of the wire met his ear yet again, along with the splintering, snapping sound of live wood being separated at its trunk. Next to him, the tree he taken shelter behind began to tilt towards him. He dove away from his would-be shelter just as the wire shot through the rest of the tree's bark. Had he stayed in place, he would have lost his head.

"Stay still, would ya', ya' brat!" The man had steadily gained more and more slang in his speech patterns. Sasuke suspected that his strategy was wearing the man's nerves down. In response to the man's statement, Sasuke pulled a paper bomb out and threw it at the man. Following the bomb were two shuriken attacked to a length of Sasuke's own razor wire, a variation on the same attack he'd used on one of the ninja that had been with the Demon Brothers.

As the bomb exploded in the man's face, Sasuke waited for his wires to pull tight and for the smoke to clear, but nothing happened. Having half-expected as much, Sasuke dropped the wire from his teeth and dove, once again, to the side. As his opponent's wire ripped through his bomb's smoke, Sasuke cursed and darted forward, hoping to catch his enemy unaware while his sight was still somewhat impaired.

Instead, he was thrown back by the explosion of what he guessed was the enemy's own bomb.

Sasuke's back hit a tree, knocking the breath out of him and causing his vision to swim at a hard knock to his head. After a second, his vision cleared and the man stood not ten steps from him.

"You're good, kid. Ya really are. But you're just a genin, right? It's ta' be expected. No hard feelin's, 'k? A man's gotta make his money." The man seemed to be breathing hard, but Sasuke couldn't tell how much chakra, or even just regular energy, the man had left. Without moving more than an inch, Sasuke slid his thumb into the ring of another kunai, disguising the movement with a harsh breath.

"You're going to go after the others on the bridge, aren't you?" he asked to gain time.

"Ya. But I don't see why it should matter. You won't care in a minute, anyways." The man grinned lopsidedly. It wasn't attractive. Sasuke smirked.

"I beg to differ." He replied in a low voice, just as he drove his feet deep into the ground. Instead of running straight at the man, which is what he would expect, Sasuke dove to his left, pulling the kunai from his sleeve. He spun it so that he was holding the blade in his hand and, getting a good grip on it, lashed his arm out in a wide circle, from right to left.

What the man hadn't seen before, or what Sasuke hadn't let him see, was that one of the wires attached to the shuriken he'd thrown earlier was also attached to the ring of the kunai in his hand, allowing Sasuke to retrieve the wire and shuriken any time he wished. Or, when he preferred, whip the wires around to latch on to his opponent's body and use the shuriken to dig into flesh and get a nice, good grip.

He aggressor cried out in surprise and at the sudden pain, dropping his own wire. Sasuke pulled hard on his wire and the man was thrown off-balance into a tree to his left. Mute, from shock, the man stared at Sasuke with slowly widening eyes. Sasuke smirked grimly.

"That's what you get for bringing stupidity to a ninja fight. You should learn to not underestimate others." Was all he said before he sent sparks of flame-filled chakra down his wire. "Ryuuka no Jutsu!" he said aloud and, in return for all the 'kid' comments, Sasuke let the man roast for a little while longer than was absolutely necessary.

He almost felt like he'd cheated. His brother, Itachi himself, during the few times he'd actually trained his little brother personally, had thoroughly taught Sasuke how to use razor wire and how to combat it. He knew how to use wire as a weapon better than most ninja knew how to use kunai. So, while he knew he wouldn't have been a match against someone that skilled in another weapon specialty, this man had had the bad luck of meeting Sasuke for an opponent. He, reluctantly, had his brother to thank for that.

As he gathered in his surroundings and let his wire loose, Sasuke wearily slid down the tree trunk his back was intimately familiar with after being blown back against it. He could see that Haku was almost done, and was just picking off the last of his targets.

Sasuke wondered if Haku had slowed down, because he didn't have much of a problem following the other, older boy's movements. He certainly hadn't gotten used to them. After the first, initial glance at Haku's technique, all his focus had been on his own fight.

He winced as a headache began to pulsate behind his eyes. Dropping his gaze, he traced the line of the wire he'd dropped. He followed its curving path towards its arrogantly foolish victim. He didn't really see the man, but rather, he saw the time his brother had taught him the Dragon Fire Technique. And he remembered the ease with which he understood Itachi's patient explanations, over those of their father's. He remembered all his complaining every time his brother flicked his forehead and left to do "ninja stuff".

He shook his head.

No. He hated Itachi. Why should his brother keep such a special place in his memories? But then, why, why couldn't he summon that indelible hatred anymore? He could feel that biting anger. Oh, yes. He could still feel that much, running rampant through his veins, but…

No hatred.

He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. Ever since he'd befriended Naruto, or since Naruto had befriended him, he hadn't been able to wall his feelings up entirely anymore, and he felt like his hatred had escaped.

Yet…

He couldn't bring himself to mind all that much.

**xXx**

The next time he opened his eyes, he realized he must have slept for a bit. Not long, obviously, since he hadn't been woken by anything in particular. But, as he looked around, he saw that his opponent had been added to a neatly stacked pile. As he turned to his right and pulled himself to one knee, he was met by the sight of Haku's face, inches away from him.

He yelped (a squeak would never be said to pass the lips of an Uchiha), and fell backwards again. Haku's lips quirked into a small smile. He stood and offered his hand to the shocked Uchiha.

"Come on. We should go back soon. I was just about to wake you." The boy said.

Sasuke blinked and nodded, putting out his hand and grabbing for Haku's.

"How long was I…uh, asleep?" Sasuke asked embarrassedly as he was pulled to his feet, knowing he should never have let his guard fall so low.

"Not long, maybe five minutes. You looked like you hadn't slept well for a while, so I let you be while I tied them up."

"Ah, okay. Thanks." Sasuke nearly mumbled.

"You're welcome." Haku let the matter rest, thankfully.

They set off at a brisk pace to get back to the bridge, but they barely managed to make it to the edge of the clearing before Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, and Zabuza burst into it.

**xXx**

Kakashi watched Naruto very carefully as they made their way away from the bridge to find their two missing boys. The blond looked about ready to drop, and Kakashi had to remind himself that the only thing Naruto had trained back to even close to his original skill was his taijutsu. His chakra reserves, although of a monstrous size for his age, were nowhere near the reserves that could handle the level of jutsu he'd just performed.

The man-turned-boy must be very close to dropping from chakra exhaustion, especially after summoning even _more_ shadow clones to take care of the scene on the bridge. Kakashi had objected, but Naruto had waved him off and the copy-ninja couldn't very well offer his own clones; they would be of no use since they weren't actually solid. And he couldn't create Shadow Clones either because, whatever he said, his own reserves still weren't actually replenished from his first fight with Zabuza.

So he settled with just watching Naruto for now. And he kept an eye on Zabuza as well, because until the hokage said something about it, he wouldn't act just on Naruto's word, regardless of how fond he'd grown of the blond in the past month and a half.

Naruto was still breathing a bit too hard by the time they'd left the bridge a while behind. They were jogging, following the trail the boys had sloppily left behind. It wasn't as if they'd had any reason to cover their tracks, but Kakashi mumbled under his breath about carelessness and he heard Zabuza doing the same.

Soon, the sickly-sweet, metallic scent of blood hit their noses and they increased their pace. Not a minute later found them busting through yet another layer of undergrowth and straight into a clearing marred by destruction. There were more than a few trees that had been knocked from their figurative feet, and there was a practical pyramid of ninja that had been built at the end of the clearing that was furthest away from them.

In the middle of the clearing, however, stood Haku and Sasuke. Kakashi would not lie and say he did not sigh in relief to see the both of them alive and well. He'd seen Haku cover Sasuke's back just as many times as he'd seen his student do the same back on the bridge. The two of them were looking only a bit worse for wear, although Sasuke looked much more tired than he had before.

Kakashi's attention, thusly satisfied that his student was well, was then turned to his companions. Zabuza looked about ready to rip Haku a new one for wandering off without his say-so, since he'd ensured the boy's well-being. However, being in front of strangers, he withheld his lecture. Sakura looked like she was about to cry from the relief of finding Sasuke alive and Naruto…

Well, Naruto just looked like all the strength had drained out of him in one go. When Kakashi looked closer, he could see the blond's pupils were dilated.

The boy suddenly heaved a great sigh. He slowly trudged the few paces that separated him and Sasuke, gaining everyone's eyes and attention. Then he slid his arms around the surprised Uchiha, hugged him tightly, and promptly passed out.


	17. Second Time's NOT the Charm

**PLEASE READ! ****I've counted up the votes. The top two were Sasuke, with 28 and Itachi, with 16. There were also a variety of others suggested, too, but these were the main ones that I thought could really happen in my story-plot. ****However, because I do not plan to make this relationship-centric, as I've said, there will be no pairing. **

**What I've decided is to make a one-shot for each character relationship, SasuNaru and ItaNaru, and maybe others, after the end of this story. The two brothers will both be close to Naruto in the mean-time, but not _that_ close.**

**P.S. If you have any complaints about the relationship deal, please tell me, but keep in mind I want to have a feasible plot.**

******Anyways, I hope you enjoy. ^.^**

**17**

_Naruto jumped from branch to branch through the forest on the border of the Fire Country and Takigakure, the Village Hidden by a Waterfall. At his side were Kiba and Akamaru._

_They were searching for the rest of Kiba's team, who had gone missing sometime in the past two weeks on a reconnaissance mission. Hinata and Shino had sent them one message, stating that they'd found the base of some hostile ninja, before contact had been cut off. Kiba would have gone as well, but even two ninja had already been pushing at the limits of secrecy. They were in the midst of a war, after all. They couldn't risk blowing the cover of their operations. _

_All the same, they'd been sent in to determine the whereabouts of the missing team. Tsunade tried to insist that Kiba should not go, since the situation involved his team, but Naruto had told her that the man would go whether she gave him permission or not. The fifth hokage reluctantly gave in at that._

_They were almost at the location given in the message from Hinata and Shino. It was within the borders of Takigakure, but it was also in the disputed territory that Kusagakure, the Village Hidden in the Grass, claimed. Ninja from the Fire country had no right to be there, but they were only going to be there for a short time, while they checked the small village that had sprouted in the disputed territory, the last place the two missing ninja had stayed._

_The moment the trees cleared in front of them, Naruto and Kiba stopped dead in their tracks. Akamaru let out a short whine._

_The village that they'd been searching for was not there. All that seemed to be left behind was a dark, burnt-out circle on the earth it had once stood upon. _

"_Hey, Kiba. Try and find a scent." Kiba didn't even argue with Naruto, like he would have in any normal situation. He just nodded._

"_Right."_

_As Kiba and Akamaru skulked away, Naruto pressed his fingers to his temples. _

"_Where have you two disappeared to?"_

**xXx**

When he woke up, he was in a room in Tazuna's home, lying on a thin mattress. Staring up at the darkened ceiling he shut his eyes, although he didn't think for a moment about trying to get back to sleep. He never had dreams anymore. It was either memories or nothing. He didn't even get nightmares; just his own messed-up past.

Naruto heaved a breath and went through the motions of checking his injuries. He clenched his hands and shifted his arms, wiggled his toes and bent his knees. His cuts and bruises from the little battle Gato had forced them into were all bandaged and well on their way to being fully healed, thanks to his demonic companion, who seemed to be resting.

Naruto pushed himself up with a barely concealed groan. His head spun and he forced the pain of his aching muscles away from the forefront of his mind, focusing next on the situation as he could remember it.

The last thing he could remember was finding Haku and Sasuke safe. He must have passed out then. It was to be expected, of course, with all the chakra he had used. But he felt too weak; far more than he could have blamed the soldier pill for.

He had only taken one soldier pill, and he knew this stiffness and the fiery ache that ran through his muscles could hardly be attributed to that. Naruto moved slightly, shifting his arm around behind him to support his upper body as he leaned back, and almost screamed when the movement pulled more harshly than expected on his tight muscles. He shut his eyes as he felt what seemed like his whole body being set on fire. His nerves were screaming at him. His muscles were clenching and only making the pain worse.

There was a demon's chakra running beneath his skin. It was poisoning him because he'd released a part of it and left a hole behind in the seal for the rest of it to slink through at its own leisure. He'd known Kyuu's chakra would become an issue sooner or later, but he'd poked a hole in the seal to get the blast of chakra he needed to take out all of their enemies at one time, and, as a result, the seal was beginning to deteriorate sooner rather than later.

He cursed. As he sat alone in the dark room, night blanketing the sky he could see from the window to his right, he shivered uselessly. The cool air of the Land of Waves brushed against his heated skin and he could almost imagine the steam rising from his limbs.

The only other experiences he'd had of consciously feeling Kyuu's chakra running through his veins was after he and Kyuu had merged their chakra pathways, something that had almost killed him. All other times, he'd been out of his mind with rage or covered by a demonic cloak. Sure, he'd been able to control it up to some point, but this was a flood of chakra rather than the pitiful trickle it had been in the past. Kyuu, the nine-tailed fox demon that she was, had more chakra than any of the other tailed-beasts combined, something she prided herself for. And, now, all that chakra was steadily entering his own chakra system.

It was an odd feeling, being in control of his body with Kyuu's chakra running through it while his body was still so young. But it was also painful. Every time he let Kyuu's chakra run through him without their chakra systems being merged, it began to burn him up from the inside, and this body had yet to build any form of resistance against it, so it was even worse.

He clenched his teeth. When he had punched a hole in the seal, he had only been thinking of Sasuke, worried about his safety as he had ever been. But he had forgotten this pain; had hoped to never experience it again after the first time. And it seemed his luck had run out on that account.

Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet, using the wall behind him as a prop. There didn't seem to be anyone awake in the house besides him, but he knew Kakashi and Zabuza would hardly leave them undefended. Even if Zabuza had only just been their enemy not long ago.

Gritting his teeth he pulled the burning chakra close in around him and covered it with a layer of his own chakra, attempting to hide his presence. It seemed to work, since he navigated his way out of the house and into the woods not far away without meeting anyone along the way, making his way to the little training ground Kakashi had requisitioned for his team's practice on chakra control.

It was far enough away that his fluctuating chakra should escape notice, especially with the jutsu he planned to put to use.

The night was dark and, even with the eyes he had, heavily influenced by Kyuubi's fox-like characteristics since he was born, he could barely see his surroundings. All the same, he picked up a long stick lying on the ground next to him and half-dragged himself around the perimeter of the small training ground. He outlined a seal in the dirt as he walked in long, flowing script.

When he finished, he breathed a sigh of relief and dropped to the ground, resting his back against a tree. Then, he released the hold he'd kept over Kyuu's chakra.

The seal he'd drawn around himself was designed to keep sounds and chakra from passing its boundaries, though it was limited to a short area. It wasn't normally utilized in ninja camps because it drew off the creator's chakra for as long as it was active and it also made it so that chakra and sounds couldn't be heard or sensed by the ones inside it either.

But Naruto wasn't all that particular at the moment, and he had plenty of chakra to spare, whether he wanted it or not.

So, having prepared for the events to come, he wove his fingers into the sign he remembered Kyuubi teaching him once before, the last time this had happened.

As he finished, he felt all of his chakra rushing out of him, taking the air in his lungs with it.

He gasped for air but it escaped him as Kyuu's chakra greedily followed his own, filling his chakra system to the brim and over. He felt it, a living chakra, burning through him, activating every nerve in his body, filling every pore.

His ears rang and he closed his eyes uselessly as white stars filled his vision completely. It felt like every limb of his body was waking after falling asleep, burning as if the blood flowing through his veins was boiling.

He might have screamed then, but he knew it would only get worse.

Kyuubi had explained it once, after the first time. His chakra would leave his body temporarily and his chakra system would then be filled by her chakra. His body was unusual in that he had two chakra systems, for Naruto's normal chakra and Kyuu's chakra, closely intertwined, but even that wasn't enough room for it all. Because the seal had held back a huge amount of extra chakra before, it had nowhere to go but into his chakra system, where it gathered and expanded, stretching the chakra veins until they burst. Then, the chakra healed the veins over and the process started again.

But there was another problem. Kyuubi's chakra had the characteristics of flame, literally burning through his body. So when it travelled through his chakra system, it was also continuously destroying his chakra veins, melting them and healing them over again, making them tough enough to withstand the barrage of Kyuu's chakra on a daily basis.

Of course this process didn't occur naturally or painlessly. The chakra that escaped when his veins burst ravaged his body in a way that was not unlike the way his demonic cloak affected him, but was limited to the parts under his skin.

Normally, a Jinchuuriki was severely affected at birth when he was turned into a container for one of the tailed demons. An example would be how Gaara was plagued with nightmares anytime he fell asleep or how some Jinchuuriki gained some characteristics of the demon they hosted. Because of his father's seal, however, the most obvious difference made to Naruto was the set of whisker scars on his cheeks.

But this became a drawback since Naruto couldn't access Kyuu's chakra without causing physical harm to his body, whereas other Jinchuuriki, whose chakra systems were merged with their demon's, didn't have this problem. Merging chakras with the demon a person hosted was inevitable unless one didn't mind his or her body being torn to pieces any time they accessed the demon's chakra.

And this was the point at which Naruto could be found, writhing on the ground in agony and biting back yelps every time another burst of chakra escaped from a burst vein.

The last time this had happened had been not long after Jiraiya's death in his own time. He'd been attacked on a solo mission by a ninja from sound who had apparently had orders from Madara Uchiha to use a particular jutsu on him. One which was designed to break down the seal which held back Kyuubi's chakra. The man had been killed quickly enough, but he'd managed to complete his mission, and Naruto had only barely managed to reach a secluded cave in time before the seal began to dissolve.

Naruto gasped in short breaths, barely managing even that. His motions seemed amplified in the dark, still night. He lay curled on the ground, having fallen from his sitting position. He wanted to move, to get his body away from the painfully overly-sensitized sensations it felt from everything it touched. But still, he dug his fingers into the dirt in an attempt to put pressure on them and stop the crawling feeling that travelled all over him

The fiery chakra was still blasting through his system and he whimpered as it burst another vein, this time in his chest. He choked as chakra attacked his lungs, making him feel like the victim of one of Sasuke's fire jutsu. Seconds later, the injury was healed, only for another vein to bust in his lower back, causing him to involuntarily spasm when the chakra hit his spine.

It felt like ages before he finally caught his breath. Tears caused by the panic of his breathlessness still streamed down his face. In a sudden fit of irritation, Naruto planted a hand on the ground and pushed himself back up to lean against the tree. He coughed, and when he removed his hand, he saw flecks of blood on it. He looked at his hand in disgust and viciously wiped in on his shirt, ignoring the painful sensations the action invoked.

_It didn't seem to last this long before._ He thought to himself. He received no answer, which he'd been expecting. Kyuu was a bit preoccupied, since she was controlling her chakra, directing it to heal the damage it caused and speeding the merge of their chakra systems along where she could. She couldn't completely contain the damage or minimize it. The chakra wasn't really hers anymore, since it had been taken and sealed away. It was almost like a domestic-pet-turned-wild-animal, and Naruto was the woods it had chosen as a playground.

He listened to his surroundings, which were extraordinarily quiet considering he was in a forest where animals of all kinds made some type of noise at any given time of day. He knew he was the cause of this. He was sure he was emanating a huge amount of chakra, making them abandon the area in instinctive fear. He wasn't sure of the situation outside of his seal, but, as far as he could tell, he was alone inside of it.

He still couldn't see anything past the white spots that had invaded his vision and it was maddening to have been deserted by his senses in such a way. The ringing in his ears had descended to such a volume that he could only just hear the leaves rustle in the trees and be sure that there were none of the braver predators that were known to prey upon weakened people such as him. And not just animals. There were rogue ninja everywhere these days, and Naruto was sure it would only get worse in the coming future.

He whimpered and jerked when another vein of chakra burst in his shoulder and his head was jerked to one side as if he'd just been punched. Not a second later, he felt the vein being healed and stiffly moved his head back to face forward. The chakra that had stimulated his spine to move his neck dissipated slowly and left a burning trail in its wake.

He felt almost as if he had just eaten a ten-course meal and someone had managed to stuff even more food into him, except the feeling wasn't only in his stomach. He was nauseous, though thankfully not dizzy, and his limbs shook uncontrollably every time he tried to move.

He groaned when the next vein burst. It was near his kidneys and he was nearly paralyzed as the chakra ran its course there. Before that vein was healed, another burst in his right arm. He keened and rocked forward as he clutched the arm with his left hand. Another wave of fire followed as Kyuu's chakra flowed out from the still-disintegrating seal.

Suddenly, he heard the soft tell-tale sounds of movement behind him. The sound of a breaking twig next to him sent him reaching for a kunai; a hand on his wrist stilled him. He cursed the fact that he hadn't had time to set a seal to keep anything from entering the small training ground. He also cursed his temporary blindness.

"Who's there?" He said hoarsely, the words hurting his still-healing throat.

"You can't see?" Naruto relaxed minutely when he identified the voice as Uchiha Itachi.

"N-ahh!" Naruto's reply was cut off as yet another vein burst, this one close to the spine at his upper back, and another shortly followed in the calf of his right leg. He curled forward, trying to escape the pain in his back and clutch at his leg in the same motion. Itachi's hand jerked back, presumably startled at the movement.

For a moment, Naruto's gasps were all that filled the air. When the pain faded a bit, he pushed himself back to lean against the tree again.

"No, I can't." He finished. He was happy to realize, though, that he was starting to be able to see vague grey shadows now. He bit his lip as a small vein burst on the underside of one of his feet.

Itachi moved around in front of him. Naruto felt the man's cool fingers underneath his jaw, looking for his pulse. It stilled, and Naruto found himself wishing he'd kept the hand moving. The coolness felt wonderful against his heated skin. Then Itachi removed his hand entirely and Naruto only just caught himself before he whined at the loss.

"You have a fever, your heart is racing, and you're in obvious pain. Why are you out here alone?"

Naruto smiled at the tone Itachi used, which strongly suggested Naruto was an idiot.

"I didn't want to worry them. You feel my chakra, don't you? It would scare the hell out of them."

"So you leave them sleeping and go to the middle of a forest alone." Itachi deadpanned.

"Heh. It's not like I'm completely unprotected. Only ninja would be out here this late, and only an Uchiha or Hyuuga could bypass my seal. I didn't really have much time for anything else, or you wouldn't be standing there right now."

"Right." Itachi said, and Naruto wasn't sure if he believed it or not. Regardless, it was true. "So, what is happening to you? I don't see any external injuries."

Naruto didn't question how Itachi could see when it was almost pitch black. He assumed the man was either using his Sharingan or pumping chakra through his eyes. It was a neat trick. One he would never need again if he survived this.

Naruto sighed. Why was Itachi even here? Oh right, Naruto had invited him to drop by. But did he really have to choose now of all times?

"It's not really your problem. Why are you here, anyway? I know I told you to find me and all, but I really meant during the daytime."

His body jerked again as a vein burst again near his spine. He gritted his teeth and dug his nails into his hand, drawing blood. He managed to withhold his shout of pain. And a second later, the cuts on his hand healed like they were never there. Apparently Itachi saw this.

"So this is because of the Bijuu you are a host to?" He asked, ignoring Naruto's question. Naruto huffed and threw a small grin at the man.

"Yes, it is. You know, Sasuke is just as stubborn as you when he wants to know something."

"Has it happened before?" The man asked after a moment's silence.

"Yes and no." Naruto answered, remembering that it hadn't technically happened before in this timeline. He decided to take pity on the Uchiha and answer the question he knew was buzzing around in his mind. "No, it won't happen again. It's sort of a one-time thing."

He knew the man wouldn't be satisfied with that answer, given the ambiguous answer he'd received first, but he'd have to live with it. Plus, Naruto was in pain, damn it, and he wasn't in the mood to explain it all quite yet.

He heard a sigh. "What is the demon doing?" Itachi asked.

"She's merging our chakras. I punched a hole in the seal to get some much needed chakra. This is the result."

"I see. Is there…anything I can do?" Naruto almost laughed at the hesitant question.

"Why would you want to help me? I thought you were under the impression I was an enemy?"

"If I thought that, you'd be dead right now."

"Right." Naruto drawled in the same tone Itachi had used before. "Well, in that case, you wouldn't mind finding me some water, would you? I left my scroll for it back at Tazuna's house."

A moment later, after he heard the sounds of a scroll being opened, he felt the mouth of a canteen being pressed to his mouth. He tried to reach up and grab it himself, but he could barely lift his arms."

"Don't move, you'll hurt yourself."

After he took a few gulps, and the canteen was pulled back, Naruto shook his head slightly.

"Thanks. But I'm in pain whether I move or not, so it doesn't matter much. Besides, it seems as if Kyuu's almost done. Thank Kami." As he and Itachi had spoken, the pain had been slowly receding, and no more veins had burst. He jumped when he suddenly heard Kyuu's voice.

_**Kit, get ready. You're doing well.**_

_Right. I'm ready. Get it done quick._

"Itachi. Go to the other side of the clearing. Now!" Naruto said aloud, having almost forgotten the man was standing there until he put a hand on his shoulder.

Being the smart ninja he was, Itachi didn't ask questions. Naruto braced himself for the final step of the process, and not a second later he felt all the extra chakra, which had escaped from his chakra system and found no place to return after the vein was healed behind it, leave his body in one last, intense burst.

Kyuu's chakra being as aggressive as it was, it couldn't be expelled from his body as calmly as he would have wished. If Itachi had still been standing next to him, the man would have been assaulted by blades of chakra. As it were, his body was now littered with cuts that had come from inside his body and he felt blood dripping down from them.

He surprised himself when he made no other noise than a sigh of relief. He slumped back against the solid tree and allowed his head to loll.

A second later, Itachi was back at his side, supporting his head with one hand and checking over his injuries. The cuts quickly healed, so he didn't find anything that needed any real medical attention, but Itachi sat down next to him and pulled Naruto's head down into his lap, not that the blond noticed all that much.

Naruto sighed again in relief. Slowly, the chakra that flowed through his chakra system was being distributed to his muscles and the torn tissues that were still damaged from the veins that had burst open. It healed and soothed and he was surprised he didn't moan in relief right then and there.

"So it's over." Itachi said.

"Yep." Naruto answered, his voice sounding infinitely better than before. He paused for a second. "Why's my head in your lap?" He managed.

Naruto didn't get an answer, but he didn't really care that much, since he fell asleep a moment later.

**Now that that's through:**

**I'm horrible to poor Naru, aren't I? And I've made him fall asleep at the end of the last two chapters...And does anybody want**** to guess what happened to Hinata and Shino?**

**Plus, if you have any opinions on the one-shot idea, please feel free to share. ^.^ I hope you enjoyed!**


	18. It's All About Trust

**Ok, so here's your next chapter. ^.^ More Itachi action here, like many of you requested. So please, read on and enjoy!**

**18**

When he woke up, Naruto wasn't sure what was going on. He knew he was still in the same place, since he could feel his chakra leaking out to support the seal that kept non-ninja out. He was laid out on a piece of cloth; he thought it might be Itachi's cloak, judging from the vague cloud shapes he could see when he turned his head a little to the left.

He went through the same process he had when he'd woken up the previous night, checking to make sure if he was still injured, or if Kyuubi's chakra had healed him while he slept. He was interrupted half-way through, though, just after he had tested the fingers of his right hand.

"You're fine. No injuries whatsoever. Not even a scar." Itachi's voice drifted over to him from his right. When he turned that way, and started to push himself up, he realized his eyes were acting a little strange. His depth perception was off, and he had to fight to keep his balance and the colors he could see were noticeably brighter, even though he couldn't see any hint of sunlight. His ears were messed up, too, seeing as Itachi was sitting right next to him, and he'd heard the Uchiha's voice as if he were much further away from him.

A wave of dizziness passed over him. The arm he held most of his weight with collapsed and he dropped back to the ground with a surprised yelp. He groaned and tried again, this time managing to pull himself up into a cross-legged sitting position, before the dizziness rocked over him again. Itachi's hand steadied him this time.

"Thanks." He said with a hoarse voice. "What-" He coughed. "What time is it?"

Itachi pushed a canteen to his lips, evidently not trusting Naruto to hold it steadily himself. Naruto didn't bother to protest, but did lift his own hand to hold the canteen as well, his oversensitive fingers brushing Itachi's gloved ones. "It's been three hours since you lost consciousness."

Pushing the canteen away from his mouth, Naruto groaned again. He cleared his throat. "Right."

There was silence, and Naruto didn't try to break it. He was attempting to relearn his sense of balance. The first time around had been much worse. He'd panicked. He'd tried over and over again to get up and stand on his own two feet, but the process Kyuubi's chakra had put his body through had increased his body's capabilities beyond his muscles' abilities to cope. It took time to get used to it. He'd fallen to the ground and kept trying to get up as his addled mind tried to clear. He thought it might've been almost half an hour before he'd calmed down and finally listened to Kyuu's instructions to regain his sense of balance.

This time it was a little easier. He knew what was happening, at least.

"Are you alright?" Itachi asked, still, seemingly, from far away.

"Fine. Balance is off. I'll get used to it." Naruto said as little as he thought he should, but it was still more information than he'd like to give out to someone he didn't quite trust yet, even though he knew he'd be able to in the future.

"You want to tell me who you are now?" Itachi asked bluntly. It surprised Naruto, seeing as the man had only just been inquiring as to his welfare.

"Only if you tell me why exactly Akatsuki is targeting Sasuke."

Naruto couldn't see Itachi's face very well, but he thought it might've just darkened a bit.

"I vaguely remember hearing about a Jinchuuriki while I was in the village. You were about the same age as my brother. I saw you once, when you were running through the village one evening."

"Probably so. I did that a lot as a kid." Naruto said, thinking back to that time, trying to remember if he had ever seen the man as a child. But it was harder now. He was beginning to forget his first childhood. And it was so long ago… Or at least it seemed so.

"Why do you know S-class secrets?"

"Because I do." There was an irritated silence. He sighed and elaborated. "I really can't tell you, Itachi. If anything, me being here right now is even bigger than S-class. I _can't_ tell you anything until I can trust you."

There was a sigh. "You're a stubborn one."

"I pride myself on it." Naruto said. He could feel the corners of his mouth quirk up. It was nice to see that Itachi had at least a little personality under his mask.

The world was almost through with its spinning and lurching. Itachi's voice almost matched his proximity, now, at least.

And he could focus his eyes, too. Itachi was leaning against a tree across from him, wearing a sleeveless black shirt. The man's lean arms were crossed over his chest and his face wore a rather irritated glare. Though, Naruto was sure that, to anyone else, it would have looked like the usual blank façade. Naruto looked away from the dark eyes and down to his lap.

He lifted a hand to his head and ran it through his short hair. After a second, he clenched his hand and growled at himself. He nearly threw himself to his feet, forgetting how much strength his muscles held now. He saw Itachi draw a kunai, startled by his movement, but Naruto didn't move to attack him. He paced a short distance unsteadily, his frustration allowing him to forget that, by all rights, he shouldn't have been able to move so quickly after fusing chakra systems with Kyuu.

He didn't pay much attention to Itachi, but his senses told him that the man had risen to his feet. Naruto didn't look at the man, even when he suddenly broke his jutsu and strode out of the clearing. And he didn't say anything when Itachi followed him.

He'd just realized. If fate was going to fuck with him by making things harder for him in this time- which was what seemed to be happening - he was going to take any opportunity given to him to fuck with fate just as much. And if that thing happened to be trusting someone who had been trustworthy from the start, what reason did he have to pass it up?

**xXx**

He didn't really think that he could just sit down, change his mind, and tell Itachi his life story and expect the man to believe him. So instead, he planned to make a gesture. Not a grand one, but one that he hoped would pay off in the end. By the time they reached their destination, Naruto finally managed to get his roiling thoughts under control in the back of his mind, and he knew exactly how he was going to go about his gesture of faith towards the Uchiha behind him.

Itachi had kept his kunai out, and had followed Naruto at a reasonable distance, maybe thirty feet back, so that he had a good warning if Naruto's unpredictable behavior was turned towards him. In front of them was Gato's compound. The same one that Naruto had entered to eavesdrop on Gato's plans earlier that week.

There was no one here, Naruto could tell. His natural chakra sensing abilities seemed to come easier after merging chakra with Kyuu, just like they had in his own time. The entire area was abandoned with the exception of himself and Itachi. It was a huge stone compound, but like most egomaniacs, Gato seemed to have had it built to focus around himself. There was a straight-away entrance that Naruto strode through, which led him and Itachi through a long succession of huge double doors.

Still, Itachi didn't speak. Naruto wondered about that. For all the man knew, Naruto could have been leading him into an epic trap. But, hey, if an Uchiha wanted to cooperate for once, who was Naruto to stop him?

The blond opened the last set of double doors and had to admit that the straight-away approach was far quicker than sneaking around in musty air ducts. And he rather liked the imposing figure he cut when he threw the final set of doors open, even though there was no one in the room to witness it.

This room was Gato's office. It was magnificent, Naruto had to admit. There were all sorts of weapons hanging on the walls, and he could hardly believe that every single one of them was a real, working weapon. Some of them were so polished you could use them as mirrors. There must have been dozens of weapon there, but that wasn't what really took Naruto's attention.

At the back of the room, there was a safe.

It wasn't huge, or nearly as flashy as Naruto would have expected from Gato. Actually, it was rather about the same height as the man had been, and about three feet wide and deep. Naruto walked around Gato's magnificent desk, which was situated in the middle of the large room, and made a beeline for the safe behind it. He noticed that Itachi stayed on the other side of the room, next to the door.

Naruto turned slightly and raised a brow at the man. Itachi said nothing. He didn't even move. He just studied Naruto's movements quietly, and, Naruto thought, suspiciously.

"I'll be using some chakra. Don't throw that kunai at me, please." Naruto said dryly as he turned back around. Without getting an answer, he brought some chakra up past the skin of his right hand and forearm, forming the oh-so-familiar blades of wind around them. He reached out and touched the tip of his middle finger to the outline of the safe's door.

There was a drilling sound, or rather, a very high-pitched screech, as Naruto's blades cut through the metal. Without the key and combination, it would take something like this, or a large blast to open Gato's safe. Naruto didn't want to destroy the contents of the safe, so he did this, which was far more pain-staking and irritating with the noise it created and the time it took. He would honestly rather have blasted it open.

When he was almost done, he glanced back to see that Itachi still stood in the exact same spot as before, which happened to be directly behind him.

"Itachi, you might want to take a few steps to one side." The man's eyes narrowed, but he did as Naruto suggested. As Naruto's bladed hand reached the second hinge to the safe, which was right above where he had started cutting, Naruto took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He slowly moved his hand through the hinge and tensed when the two ends joined each other.

There was an ominous clicking sound, and, as the door to the safe fell towards Naruto, he only just managed to move to the side in time to avoid a spray of weapons. There were more than could possibly have been stuffed into the safe, so Naruto was fairly sure that they had been in a scroll of some kind. They all shot out on a straight path, which happened to be on a collision course with the door to the office.

There were a number of dull _thunks _as the weapons made contact with the heavy wood where Itachi had been standing moments before. The trap sprayed weapons for a good five seconds before spitting out one last kunai and dying out. Naruto clenched his teeth.

He hadn't managed to get out of the way of the amateurish trap completely.

There was a huge rug on the floor of Gato's office that was rather thick and plush. Naruto had seriously overestimated his reflexes and his ability to dodge effectively. Together, these two things had resulted in his tripping on the rug and earning a kunai to the shoulder. Of course, this wasn't what Naruto was gritting his teeth about. He couldn't handle a measly old kunai wound.

What was worrying him quite a bit more was the razor wire around his throat.

Two shuriken had been shot out of the safe at once. One caught itself in the cloth of his shirt at his shoulder, near the kunai wound, but didn't sink into the skin. Connecting it to the other was a short, thick strand of dulled razor wire, which wrapped itself around his throat three times as the other shuriken's momentum swung it around his body. The razor wire had been dulled on purpose, meant to incapacitate any thieves that wanted to break into certain safes, and that was the only reason that the wire hadn't cut his throat when it first made contact.

Instead, it was slowly grinding away the skin on his neck from the moment the other shuriken anchored itself in the cloth of his shirt at the small of his back on his right side. Which happened to be the spot that he could reach with his right hand if only that arm didn't have a _frickin'_ kunai in it!

He gagged and dropped to his knees, and before he lost the last bit of breath in his lungs, he gasped out "Itachi!"

There was a momentary silence and an agonizing pause before Itachi appeared at his side, carefully pulling the second shuriken from his shirt and peeling the razor wire from his throat. It was slow work, as Itachi had to be careful not to damage Naruto's throat further, but after a minute, the wire was gone and Naruto was yanking the kunai from his shoulder. He took a long deep breath before hacking at the sudden relaxation of his lungs. He finally caught his breath before he looked up to see Itachi still holding the bloodied wire with an expression that suggested he wasn't sure what to do with it.

"And that…_hah_… is why - _cough_ - I brought you along." Naruto said with a slight grin.

Itachi's eyes narrowed once again, though Naruto thought that it was curiosity this time instead of suspicion. "I suppose that was a sort of trust exercise?"

Naruto blinked before he burst out into laughter. "No. No. Believe me. If I wanted to test you, it certainly wouldn't be at the risk of my own life. Though it worked out nicely enough."

Itachi gave him a deadpan look and Naruto calmed down a bit. "Really. I just misstepped. I was stupid. No tricks, I swear!" Naruto raised his hands in the air in a surrendering gesture before he realized that he was still holding a bloody kunai in his hand. He gave a sheepish look to Itachi before dropping the kunai down into his sleeve.

He could have sworn a laugh escaped Itachi's lips right then and there. But he might have still been a bit confused and was imagining things.

"What's so important in that safe?" Itachi asked, changing the subject and dropping the razor wire on the ground after pocketing the two shuriken. He wouldn't have much use for dull razor wire anyway, Naruto mused.

He pressed a hand to his still sore throat, which was slippery with blood, although he felt chakra already moving to heal the vicious wounds. He stood shakily and stepped back next to the safe, taking a cautious peek inside of it before stepping wholly in front of it. Inside, he could see the remains of the hair trigger that had been set to go off if the safe was ever opened without the key.

In addition to that, there must have been at least twenty-five scrolls situated on three heavy, metal shelves.

He had to wonder why a normal man like Gato, without chakra, would use so many ninja fail-safes, but Naruto didn't feel like thinking too hard about it. He figured the man must have trusted at least one ninja to set up such a system of storage and protection.

Without looking to see the scrolls' contents, Naruto took two of the bottom ones and tossed them back over his head at Itachi. He already knew what was in each of them; after all, from witnessing Gato access one before when he'd been snooping around. He heard the man catch them and unroll one.

"Money?" Itachi asked. "Why are you giving this to me?"

Naruto almost laughed at the openly surprised tone. "Every single one of these scrolls in filled to the brim with Gato's life's work. I'm distributing the spoils of war. Oh, by the way, this is his hideout."

"Right, I figured that much out all by myself." Naruto couldn't withhold the snort of amusement that bubbled up from his chest. He winced as it jarred his throat. "And, again, why are you giving this to me?"

"Well, I figure you need some money that you can rely on without killing anybody or draining away at the Uchiha fortune, am I right?" He didn't get an answer. He let the words linger in the air for a second before continuing. "Plus, you've just proved that you're trustworthy, and that has perks."

He still didn't receive an answer. He didn't turn away from the safe, but took out one of his own scrolls, unrolled it, and started stowing the money scrolls in it. He heard the rustling of cloth behind him as Itachi moved closer to him. He forced himself not to turn around.

Two hands reached over his shoulders and he stilled his movements, ready to move away at any second.

"Don't move." Came a quiet order from behind him. Naruto felt the slide of cloth against his throat and almost panicked as the sudden sensation of being choked reared once again in his mind. He forced himself still again when it dawned on him what exactly it was that Itachi was doing.

He was bandaging Naruto's neck wound.

Naruto fought not to smile as deft hands swiftly wrapped the cloth around three or four times. As he was tying the knot to keep the cloth in place, Itachi spoke again.

"Does this mean you'll tell me exactly what's going on?"

Naruto laughed again at Itachi's persistence and, with another smile that the man couldn't see, nodded an affirmative.

**So, umm, I completely thought that this place would be great to start one of the one-shots I promised you guys off at, but that might just be me. I mean, if you cut off the last three lines, it would be great. But, hey, tell me what you think. ^.^**


	19. Peace Talks

**So, it's been 4 months without an update...Oops. I've got no excuse really, but I'm working full time and I'm a full-time student, so you can imagine I'm busy. As it is, I feel terrible for leaving you guys without an update on any story for so long.**

**This chapter isn't all that action-filled. There's more Itachi and a little of Sasuke at the end, but mostly this is just a transition for the Chuunin exams, as I'm sure you all have been anxiously awaiting. ^.^ And, I'm still working out that one-shot, if any of you were wondering; I haven't forgotten! Any ideas and suggestions are welcome! I've got finals this week, but I should have some free time to write soon!**

**If anyone is feeling a bit lost with all the stuff going on in previous chapters, tell me and I'll try to write a summary up to this point!**

**Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the chapter. Mid-way though I had something completely different written, but I discarded it in favor of some less angsty paragraphs. Sorry to the angst-lovers. :-(**

**19**

There was complete silence.

Naruto and Itachi were back in the clearing they had been in not an hour before. Now, a small fire burned off to the side, near two trees that were suited for back props. The two ninja were utilizing said back props to the fullest, with outstretched legs and arms resting in their laps. A small pot was boiling over the fire, and Naruto watched it closely, with such unnatural focus that it was obvious he was trying to avoid paying attention to something else.

He'd just finished explaining everything. Well, almost everything.

He fought to hide his shaking hands, and he wondered for a moment why he was so nervous. He almost wished that Kyuubi was awake to talk to him, but she was exhausted and had practically ordered him to leave her alone. She'd also seen fit to inform him that she would be unavailable for the next two weeks. He supposed that controlling such powerful recoils of chakra would make anyone tired.

He nearly sighed in irritation, but caught himself before he actually did. Itachi was quiet, thinking, Naruto guessed. He didn't dare break the silence to ask.

He mused over the consequences of telling Itachi who he was and how he'd gotten here. He knew the man was probably highly skeptical and he could only hope not to be laughed at, but if he _did_ believe him… Well, that would be a different case altogether.

Itachi could help him figure out what was happening with all the changes to this timeline. He could help Naruto gather intelligence on Akatsuki and no one would be any the wiser for it. Hell, bringing Itachi in would probably be leagues better than Naruto could have thought _possible_ for his plans. But then, something else was bound to happen soon to stop his recent chain of good luck in its tracks.

That would always be the way of things when he was concerned.

"You didn't say how you knew of my involvement in the Uchiha Massacre." Itachi said. The words were so sudden in the silence that Naruto couldn't stop the flinch of surprise they caused. His thoughts interrupted, it took a second before his mind caught on to the answer-prompting statement.

"Well, I learned about it through a few different sources, yourself included. I'm not really sure who _exactly_ told me the main portion of the mission, but I think I finally pieced the whole thing together on my own a few years after I became a genin." Naruto started, thinking back. He barely managed to hold a stoic face as he spoke his next words. "It was a few months before you died in my time."

There was more silence.

"I see." Itachi said the words like Naruto hadn't just imparted a key bit of knowledge that affected his entire life.

More silence.

"How did I die?" Naruto winced. He really didn't want to answer that question. But when he met Itachi's eyes, he found he couldn't be so cruel as to hide this from him.

"Sasuke…after he came back to the village, I mean…He told me that he'd killed you."

Disregarding the fact that the Uchiha clan had probably the most emotionless expressions in the entire ninja world besides the Hyuuga clan-and Naruto was fairly sure by now that those expressions were genetic- Naruto thought Itachi was probably entirely unsurprised. He had egged his brother on for all those years, after all. Knowing this man, he'd probably had it all planned out from the moment his orders spilled from the elders' mouths.

But, Naruto had decided, he wouldn't let that happen now. And it seemed Sasuke had already begun to forgive his older brother anyway. It might have been because of the reprisal that Naruto's presence offered him from his self-imposed loneliness. It might have been that this Sasuke was simply different from the one he'd known; less angry, less miserable. It didn't really matter to him, though, so long as it ended with a little less death and a little more forgiveness.

"So you are twenty-two now?" Itachi asked. Naruto was surprised at the off-topic question, but nodded. He wasn't surprised that Itachi had figured up his age according to what he'd told him. The man was used to paying to such details after all. He only wondered why Itachi would care about it. He didn't have to utter the question, though. Itachi spoke up again without prompting.

"I can't believe how much happened in such a short time. Ten years…"

"More. If you count all the years that passed since Konoha was established, or after Madara left the village." Naruto must have had a note of astonishment in his tone, even as he answered the question, because Itachi turned to him and raised a brow.

"What? You thought I wouldn't believe you? With all the things you know that only one other person in this world knows? Sarutobi would never, even under torture, speak a word of my mission to anyone. And the elders…well, they would prefer to wipe my birth from all the records in existence. Chakra can do almost anything. I know that better than most. It isn't too much of a leap to think that a jutsu could let a person travel across time."

"Well, then." Naruto huffed, at a loss for how he should continue. He'd had such little expectation that Itachi would believe him, that he wasn't sure how to accept that he actually did. The only other people who knew- Sarutobi, Kakashi, Iruka, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune- were one thing, but Naruto wasn't even sure if they believed his story completely either.

Itachi snorted in amusement, a smirk on his lips, and shook his head. Naruto couldn't get enough of the man's… well, his expressiveness. After dealing with the man so sporadically. After misjudging the man so thoroughly in his own time. After not bothering to think about Itachi's motives in the first place. He supposed that he would have to make up for all of that this time around. And he'd do it happily.

They sat for a moment before Itachi glanced down at Naruto's neck and frowned. Naruto blinked and raised a hand. The bandages Itachi had wrapped around his neck were soaked. Itachi turned away a little and dug in the pouch at his hip. He pulled out a rolled-up strip of bandage and stood, circling around behind Naruto. He carefully pulled the bandage he had applied in Gato's office from the cuts that were beginning to scab over. They were drenched in blood, making them unusable even should they boil them in water. Naruto felt goose-bumps rising along his neck as a drop of blood rolled down it.

Itachi dabbed at the wound, catching the drops of blood with the old bandage.

"Thanks." Naruto mumbled.

The adrenaline that had come with the visit to Gato's office, and with having razor wire wrapped about his throat, had long since faded and the pain from the slowly healing cut was becoming intense.

"Why hasn't Kyuubi healed this?" Itachi asked, taking care to call the demon by her name-at least, at least by the one she preferred- rather than her nature and race, something that few other people, even in his own timeline, had ever bothered to do

Naruto sighed irritatedly at his situation, though the gesture the man was making took the edge off his frustration. "She's exhausted. As it is, she can't direct the chakra to the areas that most need to be healed. The chakra's working on everything at the same time.

"You're injured somewhere else?" Itachi asked, his eyebrow raised.

"Nowhere you can get to."

"Which is?"

"When the chakra expelled itself from my system, it wasn't picky about what it sliced through to get there. Thankfully, Kyuu took care of the organs, but I've got damaged tissue and muscles everywhere."

"And you've been moving?" Naruto heard pure amazement in the Uchiha's tone.

"It's not as bad as it sounds. I'd imagine it's almost healed, anyway. I can't really tell as it is, though. My body practically burns everywhere from the chakra!" Naruto let out an explosive breath. "But it's healing; it's just a little slower than usual."

Itachi finished wrapping Naruto's neck and sat back down in front of him.

"Logically, I realize you have enough experience to know how much your body can take. But your words are coming from a child's mouth; the same age as Sasuke is. It makes me want to lecture you." Itachi finished with a frown.

Naruto wanted to laugh. He definitely found the Uchiha's words amusing. But this man had probably not spoken to someone he could trust in a very long time. He probably didn't have any friends he hadn't lied to; none that worried about him or that he could worry about in turn.

And it seemed that Naruto had quickly become the only person that fit into that category. More quickly than he should have, even. It made the ANBU in him squirm uneasily. But he pushed that feeling away. He'd already decided, after all. Fate could go fuck with someone else. It'd already had enough fun with Naruto for one lifetime.

Naruto smiled. "Thanks." He said. He leaned back against an old tree. He looked around him. The little clearing might not have ever hidden Naruto's and Kyuubi's chakra binding for all the signs it showed. And in the light that was now quickly spreading through the sky, Naruto looked at himself and saw, for the first time, his shredded clothing.

His shirt was in tatters, not only from the shuriken and razor wire that had bitten through the tough fabric, but also from the chakra that had been forcibly rejected from his body. His pants hadn't been spared, but the parts that came closer to his groin were considerably less damaged, thankfully.

It seemed that the areas that had received the most damage were the higher traffic areas of his chakra-his forearms and near his hands, his feet, and his stomach near the seal.

No wonder Itachi was worried. He was a mess.

"Kami." Naruto sighed. He stood and drew a scroll from a pouch that lay on the ground, one that he'd brought with him on his pain-clouded journey to the clearing and, upon his arrival, discarded at the base of the tree for fear of damage to its contents.

He unrolled the scroll and pressed his hand to it without drawing blood. His hand sunk through the paper and, when he pulled it back, he held a black shirt in his grip. He did the same three more times. By the time he was through, he had the shirt, a pair of pants, and plain boxers lying over the crook of his arm. A pair of sandals lay at his feet, which he picked up after rolling up his scroll and replacing it in the pouch.

He glanced at Itachi, who was looking equally amused and curious.

"Just a sec." Naruto said with a small grin. He stepped behind the tree he had been leaning against and quickly stripped, changing his ruined clothes for the new ones. As he slipped on the second sandal, he pushed himself up and plopped down back in front of the tree.

He put his old clothes in a pile, performed some nameless fire jutsu and watched them burn into a pile of ash. When he looked up from watching the flames dance, he saw Itachi was still studying him. He felt a lopsided grin sneaking up on his face.

"What?" I couldn't have gone back to my team like that." He said. Itachi watched him for a moment longer, then he finally shook his head. Naruto understood suddenly that the man probably didn't feel comfortable asking outright questions.

"I'm not used to seeing a child being so resourceful, I suppose." The man said. "Even most Jounin in Konoha don't use storage scrolls.

"Well, I'm not a child, as you well know. But I've been on quite a few missions where I've been out of contact with anyone for a long time. They've come in useful."

"I see." Itachi nodded sagely. Naruto smiled at the man, then looked at the sky, noting that the sun must be nearly over the horizon. They had maybe a half hour before sunrise; two hours before they would leave for Konoha.

"Me and my team are leaving today. How will I keep in contact with you? Or would you prefer it be the other way around?"

Itachi thought for a moment, then he dug once again in the pouch at his side. What he pulled out wasn't exactly what he expected. A block of red sealing wax, an inch square and maybe five inches long, sat in the Uchiha's palm, proffered to Naruto. He picked it up and looked questioningly at Itachi.

"If you fill it with your chakra, I can make it so that any missive I seal with it can only be read by you. Otherwise the letter or note will be destroyed the instant someone tries to read it. I will give you a block with my own chakra so that you can do the same." He pulled out a blue block of wax in demonstration.

Naruto grinned. "Konoha ninja did the same sort of thing in my time, except it was with paper. This is a much better idea, though; sealing was would last much longer. There's a limit to how much paper you can carry around, since you can't put anything with chakra inside a storage scroll. Though I suppose Konan wouldn't have had a problem with that method of communication."

"That would be cumbersome, yes." Itachi agreed as Naruto put some chakra into the red wax. As they traded blocks, though, Itachi pulled his hand away from his wax with a surprised grunt, causing Naruto's block to fall to the ground. Naruto caught a glimpse of the man's hand before Itachi turned it towards himself to survey the damage. It was pink, close to being painfully burned. He didn't crowd the man, but he did crane his neck to see if he was alright and hissed in empathy.

"Damn, sorry about that. There's still too much of Kyuu's wild chakra running about. Usually, I can keep it from burning others but-" Itachi waved him off.

"It's fine. I'll just be more careful." He pulled a piece of cloth from nowhere and bent down to wrap the wax with it and stow it in his pouch once again.

"Good. Now, about methods of transport. Umm…will a toad be alright from my end? Your ravens would be fine, but I can't exactly go around borrowing message hawks all the time. I just want to make sure it won't be too suspicious."

Itachi snorted. "I think I can manage secret correspondence without being discovered. A toad will be fine. You can distinguish my ravens from live ones?"

"I would think so, after you shoved one down my throat. I think I could find one of your ravens even in a horde of others. Especially if I had to rely on taste." He grimaced, then mock gagged.

Itachi actually laughed then. It made Naruto want to smile, seeing such a hardened man enjoying himself.

"I would apologize. But that would sound redundant considering that it hasn't happened in this timeline."

They spent the next few minutes planning communications. Then the sun finally peeked up over the horizon. Naruto stuffed his wax into his pouch, fastened the pouch around his waist, and turned back to Itachi with a smile.

"Thank you for trusting me and helping me. For believing me, too. I promise you won't regret it." Naruto stuck out his hand, feeling unable to completely express his gratitude to the man.

Itachi clasped arms with him, forearm to forearm, as comrades would, and clapped a hand to Naruto's shoulder. "I don't think I will at all."

The statement was short, but to Naruto, it said everything. After such a brief meeting during the fight when Gato had been killed and after such a revealing meeting during the past few hours, it seemed that Naruto had gained Itachi's trust, tentative though it was sure to be. As one of the most secretive and cautious ninja he knew, it was a wonder that the man hadn't just killed him in his moment of weakness.

Remembering the tragic death of this same man in his own timeline made his eyes mist over, and before Naruto could start crying, he said his farewells and headed off towards Tazuna's home.

**xXx**

Realistically, Naruto shouldn't have expected that breaking the news to Sarutobi about Zabuza and Haku would be easy. It had been hard enough to convince Zabuza to stay outside the village; he'd wanted to see the Hokage's face when Naruto broke the news. And it seemed that Kakashi, now hardly ever seen out of Zabuza's company, was just as curious as to Sarutobi's reaction. On the trip back to Konoha, the copy-nin had barely let either of the two men out of his sight and had pulled Naruto aside multiple times to question his intentions.

So now, Naruto and Kakashi sat in chairs that had been placed in front of the Hokage's desk, telling him how the mission had gone. Iruka stood behind the man in his almost designated spot. He wore a disgruntled expression, but he hadn't said a word yet.

"And where are these two men now?" Sarutobi asked. He had yet to say how he felt over the matter.

"They are just outside of Konoha, with Sasuke and Sakura." Naruto said.

"You left your teammates alone with them?" Iruka burst out, unable to hold his opinion on the matter back any longer.

"And a number of clones to watch over them all. You think I'd leave any of my friends unprotected?" Naruto bit back, sending a stony look at his old teacher.

Iruka blanched and muttered a quick "Sorry."

"Are you sure about this Naruto?" Sarutobi asked him, resting his chin thoughtfully on the bridge of his intertwined fingers. "I can see your point on their usefulness, but they are still mercenaries, if not murderers."

"And ninja aren't?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow. "You can hardly judge a person on their occupation these days, especially if chakra is involved."

"True enough, I suppose." The old man muttered with a frown. "And from what you say, granting them a pardon would go a long way to gaining their loyalty. So long as their work doesn't work its way into the Fire country, I'm not too troubled about it, either."

Naruto nodded in agreement, a smile working its way onto his face.

"For what it's worth, I trust them on their word." Kakashi added, earning a surprised look from Naruto. The older ninja had questioned his decision the whole trip back, after all. Sarutobi nodded with a sigh.

"I'll agree to a pardon, then. I did say that you had the right to offer such things, after all, if you thought it necessary. I won't go back on it now."

"Thank you." Naruto said. He leaned back in his chair, relaxing now that the hard part in the conversation was over. Kakashi took over and told the rest of the story, including Gato's unceremonious death and Sasuke and Haku's victory over the man's hired ninja.

Naruto hadn't told anyone of his meeting with Itachi. As far and anyone knew, he'd just gone to the training ground for an early morning workout, to work off some frustrations or something. And knowing his odd sleeping schedule by now, his teammates hadn't commented. Haku had wondered aloud how he wasn't feeling miserable, having passed out the previous day with such low chakra levels, but Naruto had passed it off with his unnatural healing from Kyuu.

Sasuke and Sakura were clueless so far, about him and about Kyuubi, and Naruto planned to keep it that way. At least for a little while longer. He had promised Sasuke an explanation for all the weird things he'd picked up on, but he hoped that conversation would wait.

Not long after he'd returned to Tazuna's house, he'd had Kakashi get everyone up and ready to leave, too quickly for anyone to get too curious. Zabuza and Haku had insisted on getting a written form of this pardon, or at least an in-person agreement with the Hokage.

So here they were, in Konoha, safe and sound for the moment. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. His body had healed well over the last four days of travel and his energy was back to normal. There hadn't been any time for impromptu training sessions from Kakashi, which had become the norm with their team, but they'd kept a brisk pace, taking a longer route back to Konoha to avoid any possible parting gifts from Gato or any of his remaining men.

"Have you figured out anything on this organization? Akatsuki?" The question broke through his thoughts.

"We haven't heard anything yet, but Jiraiya only just began looking into them. They've only been on our books for a few years."

_Liar._ Naruto felt a spike of anger on behalf of Itachi, who had been so wronged by Konoha; banished and used as a spy thanklessly. _You knew about them for years._

But no, Sarutobi had tried to protect Itachi, at least, instead of having him killed as the Council of Elders wanted.

"They targeted Sasuke, though. That's what you said, wasn't it, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto nodded. "They did. And when I figure out why they're moving so soon, we need to deal with them right away. They are a real danger."

The solemnity of that statement effectively ended the conversation. The silence was only broken when Sarutobi pushed his chair back and stood, stretching. He set his kage's hat on his desk and gestured for Naruto to lead the way through the door.

"It's about time we see to Zabuza and Haku, I think. Let's leave the more serious matters for when we have a little more information."

The four of them set off for the gates of Konoha.

**xXx**

The Hokage's meeting with Zabuza and Haku went interestingly. That's what Sasuke thought, at least. Haku, who had become something of a friend to him since their battle against the ninja in the woods, seemed to be honored to be meeting such a great man. Zabuza, on the other hand, seemed unimpressed that the Hokage had come from beyond the safe walls of his village to meet the two of them.

They had been left outside the gates while Naruto and Kakashi had continued on. Zabuza and Haku would be attacked should they step foot in the village while their names were still in the bingo books, so it made sense.

Sasuke and Sakura settled in on some tree branches, glad to be home once again, while Zabuza and Haku huddled together at the far end of the clearing, evidently planning their future should the Hokage agree to grant them a pardon; something Kakashi had told his students about just before they reached Konoha.

Unsurprisingly, Sasuke noted that this news was not new to Naruto, and he hated being left out of the loop. He was well aware that several important things were being kept from him, and he was pretty sure that Sakura was beginning to realize it, too. But he knew the time would come when Naruto wouldn't be able to hide things any longer. _And it had damn well better be soon, too._ He thought to himself.

When the Hokage arrived, with Naruto in the lead, he just frowned and left the adults to their business, standing on the sideline with Sakura while Zabuza, Haku, and the Hokage debated over the terms of the pardon. Naruto made his way over to their side while Iruka-sensei and Kakashi stayed flanking the Hokage.

Not ten minutes later Zabuza and the Hokage shook hands and the Hokage handed over a scroll that evidently declared the pardon. Looking sideways, Sasuke saw a slow smile pull at Naruto's lips, one of genuine happiness for the two ninja, unless Sasuke missed his guess.

Team 7 dispersed, with Iruka-sensei and the Hokage leading Zabuza and Haku to safe lodgings for the night within Konoha's walls

He wondered why Naruto had been so eager for this moment to happen. Who were Zabuza and Haku to Naruto? And why, for Kami's sake, did he feel happy for the two as well? They'd tried to kill them at first. But then they'd switched sides just as quick. They probably shouldn't be trusted. But, oh, to hell with it.

Sasuke forced himself to stop thinking. Though he'd gotten a semi-good night's sleep for each of the last five nights, sleeping on the earthy ground wasn't exactly conducive to comfort. He got home and collapsed on his bed, not bothering with lights to move around in the now darkening house or even to strip down to his boxers or take off his weapons pouch.

**And once again, we end with a character falling asleep. Hmm...I need to think of another way to break up chapters. Oh, well. Tell me what you thought! I'm interested to see if any of you even remember what's going on anymore. Lol. Thanks for sticking with me!**


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